Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts
by Kodra
Summary: Intent is the cornerstone of magic, and all wizards know they should never cast a spell that they can not see the end of. However, a mother sacrificing herself can't always be expected to keep true to their logic, when their child's life is at stake. Uzumaki Hari comes to Hogwarts with a very different childhood.
1. Good Intentions

Disclaimer - I don't really like the legal disclaimers most Fanfictions tack on the beginning of chapters, but I am more than willing to observe tradition.

**Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts  
**Good Intentions

_"Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions, it is walled and roofed with them" -Aldous Huxley_

Intent, as any worthwhile wizard will tell you, is the most important determining factor when shaping a spell. _I want this feather to float._ _I want these rocks turned to iron._ _I want this man dead_, if you dabble in the dark. What often goes unsaid is that intent needs to be controlled, otherwise a spell may go in very unexpected directions. You should never cast a spell whose end you don't see. For one, they tend to consume their caster, requiring far too much magic for a normal caster. For another, they often have unintended consequences.

That's why when Lily Evans was preparing for the end of her life, hoping to sacrifice herself for her son, she knew that she needed a spell to protect young Harry. Protection from the Dark Lord was a sure thing. Her death for him would make that protection extraordinarily potent. With luck Voldemort would not be able to even touch her son.

Unfortunately, no mother wants her son to just survive, which can lead to complications. As she incanted that most ancient of magic she felt her love for him bursting from her heart. She wished more than anything that her son would be happy, and live a wonderful life. She finished the incantation, unsure of herself as the twisted man burst into her house. She begged him to spare her son, and he foolishly fell into her trap as a burst of green light struck her in the chest, completing the spell.

The serpentine man sauntered forward arrogantly as he taunted the infant at his feet. He lowered his wand toward the child and spoke the most vile of curses. The green light glowed throughout the room, and a thunderous noise echoed throughout Godric's Hollow as the spell flew back into the villain's chest, striking him dead as his abused soul fled its shell.

The magic surrounding the boy rippled from the spell and began bleeding energy as the spell quickly tried to contain itself. Like a living creature, the spell healed its wound and began to work the rest of its magic.

Lily's magic bled a portion of its power into raw divination magic, forcing open the eyes of fate to see the endless paths set out before the boy. Sadness, loneliness, despair, pain, suffering, sometimes death were the paths laid out for the child marked by such cruel fate.

As the magic bled its power, seeking desperately the path of happiness for the boy, something changed. The magic that was so much of Lily's love became aware of what it was doing. It soon realized that no path on this world would lead to her son's happiness. Already the magic she had cast was weak, exhausted from controlling the eyes of fate. The spell expended the greater portion of it's remaining magic, took the child and left the world of wizards completely, hoping to find happiness in the world next door.

The spell was on its last legs as it hovered in the night sky above a mountainous landscape. It could no longer control the fates but it could still beg help from them. Sadly no fates seemed to govern this world, only spirits of destiny which answered the call.

They were sympathetic to the boy, and guided the magic to a village hidden in a forest. The leader of the village was a man whose capacity for love was legendary, and whose wife was equally so, who had been cursed to never bear child.

Lily's fleeting conscious felt the draw to this couple, and with the last of her magic transfigured a small bassinet and blankets, placing her son Harry Potter inside. Upon the blanket she left a note. _"I am Lily Potter, and this is my son Harry. As you are reading this, both his father and I are now dead, and I beg that you would find it in your heart to take him into your home, and raise him as your son."_ And with that his mother's magic departed to the next great adventure.

The spirit of destiny frowned as it watched the man she had tasked so much with quietly work in his study, a downtrodden look on his face that should never have graced such an exuberant spirit. It also saw his wife, pale eyes reddened from tears that would no longer come. The news that her injuries prevented her from ever having a family had ripped through this couple who had already endured so much together. The spirit caused a knock to sound through the house, and vanished.

A minute later the woman opened the door and looked down at the child with a curious look. She quickly read the note as her eyes widened. She gracefully bent down and picked up the child, and brought both him and the note inside. She showed the child to her husband, as new tears of joy formed in her eyes.

* * *

"UZUMAKI HARI!" The shrill yell of Umino Iruka fought it's way against the wind to reach the ears of Uzumaki Hari. The boy in question was currently lying down atop a fast moving freight container being towed by a truck en route to Wave Country, watching overhead as the clouds rushed by. Hari paid no mind to the cries of his sensei as he reinforced the chakra bonds he was using to avoid being blown off the fast moving train. He was beginning to regret his decision to wear his combat uniform on this mission, consisting of a set of brown thick leather pants and jacket worn over top a layer of mesh wire for protection. Coupled with his standard issue hitai-ite and leather goggles used to correct his poor vision, Hari was becoming quite uncomfortable in the warm Wave country weather. Even the considerable breeze he was experiencing did little to offset his warm outfit. He plucked at the neck of his jacket, hoping a little more air flow would cool him off.

In the sky he spotted a small cloud that reminded him of a turtle with it's head withdrawn in it's shell, which caused him to spare a glance over at his partner and best friend Rock Hanako. The girl was performing the same repetitive one armed push ups she had been working on when he last checked on her over ten minutes ago. Her dark brown hair mixed with the stunning green eyes she'd inherited from her intimidating mother meant the two of them were often confused as brother and sister on missions that took them far enough afield from Konoha for such a mistake to be made. Not that Hari particularly minded as it opened up any number of opportunities for mischief.

His musings were interrupted as the metal container he was laying on shook from the force of his aging teacher landing only a foot away from him. Cast in Iruka's shadow, he simply looked up at his teacher and smiled. Iruka-sensei set in on him with a lecture almost immediately. "Uzumaki Hari, this is not the time to be screwing around. We are on a very serious mission! This is not like the other C-ranks we have attempted. There are credible rumors of enemy shinobi around, and if we aren't always watching, we could be ambushed and killed. Do I make myself clear?"

Hari leaned his head forward to turn his gaze back up to the clouds. Hari had spent enough time with Iruka as his Jounin-sensei to be able to read his moods, and Iruka seemed more annoyed than angry. It didn't help that his father had confided in him just how to get his sensei wound up. "Oh hey Iruka-sensei, it's just such a lovely day I figured I would relax and just watch clouds. Shika-oji-san says it's a good way to keep my mind sharp, so I'll be prepared for the fight ahead. I'm gonna be a genius ninja just like him."

"More like a lazy ninja." Rock Hanako said sarcastically. She pushed herself up from the container and moved towards Hari, giving the young boy a good view of the simply hideous green spandex jumpsuit outfit she was always seen in. Hari knew the outfit had special symbolism to her, and that functionally it was well suited to her style of combat. The outfit was still an eyesore matched only by his own father's embarrassingly orange Hokage robes. "Hari-kun, if you keep slacking off like this you'll never reach your full potential. We're young, so we need to work hard now or else we'll suffer for the rest of our life!"

Iruka-sensei let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes. "Hari, we're in dangerous territory. We know there have been attacks against these types of convoys in the past, and it's our duty to prevent any further attacks. If we aren't constantly aware of our surroundings, we're could be in serious trouble."

"Relax sensei. I'm not an idiot. I know the danger, and I also know if something does happen I'll know before…" He perked up. A grin spread across his face as new memories entered his mind. "They're coming from the…" He paused again, as his eyes widened, as even more memories began filtering in. "They're surrounding us! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU". He slammed his fingers together and eight new clones popped into existence.

Hanako pushed herself up from the container and rushed toward the front of the train, with three of Hari's clones following her. Iruka was flanked by two of them as he moved towards the center of the train where two groups of bandits were already climbing up the sides of the freight crates, trying to get inside with some breaching charges. Hari moved with the three remaining clones towards the back of the train, where his sentries had spotted a small group of bandits board the gap between two shipping crates.

Sure enough Hari spotted a group of three bandits standing on the connector that held the back cargo container to the rest of the train. His two clones moved toward the gap to dispatch the bandits, but exploded in a puff of smoke as kunai struck both in the chest. Hari looked up in time to deflect the third Kunai that was aimed at him. At the end of the train was a man dressed in green with a green mask covering his face. Hari didn't recognize the man from any bingo book entries, but given his outfit Hari assumed he was a missing-nin that didn't want to advertise his identity, which meant he needed to be cautious. Either the guy was a narcissist or he had a legitimate reason to keep his identity secret, and most narcissists didn't have the good sense to hide their faces.

Hari moved forward, tossing a kunai back at the man, which was easily dodged. The ninja returned with a volley of shuriken Hari rolled under. As he was standing from the roll the train shook and Hari fumbled to the ground. The enemy ninja lost his balance for a moment but remained standing. Hari ran through a quick series of seals before doing a rolling into a handstand to avoid another kunai. He pushed up and twisted in the air to land on his feet, to find himself close to his opponent who swung his fist towards his chest. Hari managed to grab him at the forearm, and three small snakes launched out of his loosened sleeves, sinking their fangs into the enemies forearm. The man grunted in pain and managed to push Hari away from him. The serpents disappeared before he could bring any harm to them, and he tested his now stiff arm. Hari was drawing a pair of Kunai to fight with, when the missing-nin pushed his fingers into a seal and disappeared, to be replaced with a large porous rock. He scanned the area for a feint, recalling the substitution jutsu he used as one taught in Wind and Stone villages. Given his proximity to both Wind and Fire, he was most likely a hidden rock missing-nin.

His musing was cut short when he felt the boxcar he was on shake. He turned back and saw the bandits holding on to the sides of the train as the rear half separated from the front half. Hari cursed that his delay with the missing-nin allowed the bandits to achieve their goal. He needed to get back to Iruka-sensei and let him know what happened. Instinctively he straightened his forehead protector and pressed his fingers together again.

Hanako met up with Iruka-sensei in the middle of the train as they watched the back back half of the train racing away from them. The few bandits that had attacked the large truck were no match for her and Inari-san, who turned out to be an impressive fighter for a civilian. She had just finished tossing them to the side of the road when she felt the train jerk. She used her chakra to stabilize herself while the train started to break. She watched as Hari-kun landed a few steps away them with a frown on his face. "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. There was an enemy shinobi I had to contend with, and he was able to distract me while the bandits disengaged the lock to those containers. That's why they focused their attacks around the train."

Hanako felt a measure of pride in her teammate. They knew there was a risk of a missing-nin on this mission, but Hari had managed to deal with him without getting hurt. Iruka nodded. "Don't sweat it Hari. We should be able to track the shipment back to their base easily enough. I'm glad you're not hurt. Facing an unknown shinobi in the field is one of the many risks we take every day."

Hari nodded with a lopsided grin on his face, which set off warning bells in Hanako's mind. Her mother had warned her that grin was something he inherited from his father, and always meant he'd done something completely irresponsible. She let out an aggravated growl before screaming at the boy. "Hari-kun, what have you done this time!"

The boy wilted under his glare with a weak smile, but before he could say anything Iruka-sensei stepped forward. "You're a clone of Hari aren't you." He pinched at his now wrinkled scar and closed his eyes. "Okay, what idiotic stunt is Hari going to pull this time? I swear, you and your father…"

Hari grinned, "I needed the bandits to see me jump away. That way I could sneak below board and have a surprise ready for them when they open those doors."

Iruka-sensei sighed, "Hari, you need to be cautious! Stay put and when you hear our signal, then you can join us in stopping the bandits." He punched the clone in the head which disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hanako sighed and stretched for the strenuous run before her. She loved Hari but he was the most troublesome ninja she knew. "Let's go sensei. Someone needs to be there to pull his fat from the fryer."

Iruka just shook his head and formed a wood clone to stay with Inari. "I swear, I'm getting too old to deal with Uzumaki's anymore. Let's go Hanako."

* * *

Olbo was exceptionally tired when he arrived back at Hogwarts. He'd just finished a long day's work delivering dozens of letters to prospective students, and his wings were sore. Such was the life of a Hogwarts post owl. It wasn't the worst job to have. There wasn't any fear of being bonded to a dark wizard, or a transfigurer who likes to have you be the target of his many twisted spells, and you got to see all sorts of interesting places in magical and muggle Britain.

The real downside was delivering the acceptance letters. When he was a younger owl he could complete the first year deliveries and still have enough strength to handle the Headmaster's weekly order of muggle sweets. Now he struggled to get through. He landed on his perch in the owlery and looked wearily over to the quill responsible for writing the letters. It hung frozen in the air over an envelope, like it was trying to decide where to send it to. Olbo let his eyes close as his weariness overcame him.

He then woke with a start to the sound of a quill writing. He felt tired but refreshed and as he looked out the window, he realized he must have fallen into a deep sleep. The envelope was sealed and the quill had moved back to its resting position in the inkwell. Olbo flapped his wings as a way to stretch. He then glided over to the letter to carry it to its destination. He flapped his wings in surprise as the destination of the letter became known to him. The owl let go of the letter to ensure that the magic was not tricking him, but the envelope confirmed the destination. The poor owl glared at the quill now resting in it's inkwell signifying it's job for the year was complete.

Olbo, the old tired post owl resigned himself to his fate as he slowly flew away out of the owlery of Hogwart's castle, and then out of the dimension entirely.

With a loud crack Olbo appeared in the afternoon sky, far above the trees that surround the Village of Konoha. He glided slowly down towards the Village below, his destination a large building toward the center of the town. The thoughts of a nice days sleep clouded his mind as his sore wings cut through the air.

He was nearly to the Hokage's house when a steel net smashed against his body, weights attached to the end causing him to plummet to the ground.

Olbo let out a pathetic hoot as three humans in masks came forward and carried him off. This was not turning out Olbo's lucky day.

* * *

The original Naruto, or Naruto-prime as he liked to think of himself, was currently working at going through all potential mission requests that had passed the initial filters. He was seated at a desk in the corner of a busy room full of Narutos, all wearing a long orange robe with the Uzumaki crest on the back and black flame trim. Behind large double doors was a clone of himself going over the revenue statistics with senior Konoha officials, while three other clones of himself were taking care of mission debriefings in secluded side offices of the building. The trick Naruto had found to maintaining an army of clone bureaucrats was to make sure that you were always doing something different. Never have a clone do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself.

Memories of a perished clone entered their way into Naruto's consciousness. ANBU were investigating a potential attack on his household. He quickly formed three more clones, and took off running followed by two copies. He leapt across the roof tops of Konoha toward his house, surrounded by a three man team of ANBU. Standing nearby was his wife Hinata, the veins around her eyes raised from the use of Byakugan, with her genin team standing dutifully behind her. Her head turned as he entered the range of her vision. Her normally gentle face was set in a hard scowl that sent shivers up Naruto's spine. That look typically meant he was in trouble. He and his entourage set down beside Hinata with a questioning look on his face. "What's going on?"

Hinata's scowl deepened. "Someone sent a messenger owl to our _home_, addressed for _our son_." Sending a message directly to the Hokage's personal residence was highly unusual, as most mail was vetted for traps through a central post office before the Hokage could receive it.

Naruto looked over to the owl that was now chained by it's feet, with an envelope sitting next to it. "This... may be the weirdest thing I've seen in awhile. Who would seriously try to send a letter direct?" He turned to Hinata. "Any chakra in the letter?"

Hinata's veins pulsed as she stared at the note. "No... there's no chakra but there's definitely something strange about the letter." She pressed the tips of her fingers together. She'd worked so hard to keep that reaction under control, so something was certainly wrong. "It reminds me of what I see when I look at Hari-kun."

It was Naruto's turn to scowl. He knew there were many things unexplained about his son, from the day of his mysterious arrival to his unnaturally large chakra capacity, and his wife's ever perceptive eyes could tell early on that there was something different about Hari's physiology. Naruto took a few steps closer. "Evacuate the area. Take the bird to Ino. I know she's gone into Akamaru's head before. Maybe she can get something out of this Owl. One of my clones will handle the letter."

Hinata turned to her genin. "You three head to training area 12 and begin team exercises without me. I'll be by when I'm finished with this." The three genin nodded together and as a unit took off towards the forest.

The Anbu were carrying off the owl as Naruto and Hinata started moving away from the clones standing by the letter. Naruto turned to his wife with a smile. "Every day is something, eh sweetie?"

Hinata's frown softened as her eyes returned to normal. "Naruto, this isn't normal. The fact that someone is trying to get ahold of our Hari means he's starting to make a name for himself."

Naruto sighed as they reached a safe distance from their house. "I know, I know. I've made sure that Hari is only operating within Fire country and our allies. He's as safe as he can be and still be an operating shinobi." Naruto turned and gave a sheepish smile. "Besides, we both know our boy has enough tricks up his sleeve to get into and out of almost any situation."

Hinata sighed. "And that, is what worries me. I think he may be even more of a trouble maker than you were at his age."

Naruto gave a mock gasp. "Slander and lies. I was the greatest prankster this village has ever seen, and while our son may be good, he's still got a ways to go to top his old man!"

Hinata rolled her eyes as she silently activated her Byakugan, focusing on the clone by their house. "Looks like he's about to open it. I do hope our house doesn't explode. Again."

"One time! I set off a small explosion while working on fuuinjutsu one time and the house just happens to explode a little and I never hear the end-" Naruto cut off his rant as new memories entered his head. "...Wow. That's...odd" Someone had sent his son an invitation letter to a school. "C'mon Nata, I need to see this with my own eyes." Naruto raced ahead to his house, followed closely by his wife. He arrived in a few seconds and quickly snatch the letter to read. He frowned as he spoke. "Hari's been accepted to some school of ... witchcraft and wizardry? And here's a list of supplies he'll be needing? Why on earth are students forbidden from bringing brooms? Why would it even say that?" He looked over to Hinata. "Hinata, is this a prank? Do you know if Kiba is trying to get me back for the last time I tricked him and Chouji? Is that why you're playing along?" He smirked. His wife was straight as an arrow most of the time but she'd surprised him a couple times with pranks of her own on him.

His smile faltered as he caught her staring intently at the envelope discarded on the ground. Her voice was very quiet when she spoke. "It's addressed to Harry Potter, not Uzumaki Hari. That's... the name in the letter..."

Naruto glanced down at the discarded envelope to confirm. Somehow these people knew Hari from before they'd found him on their doorstep. His eyes swept across the header of the first letter. His voice hardened as he spoke. "They're expecting a response by owl. How fortunate that we seem to have just acquired such a creature. This Albus man seems to be their leader. I think I'll have a chat with him." He looked to see Hinata nodding at him. He knew Shikamaru would not approve of him leaving the village based on so little information, but any information on his son's mysterious past was worth the risk. He withdrew a piece of paper and a pen which he wrote a short message on before withdrawing two seals and a small brush of paste he had on his person. He quickly pasted the seals to the back of the letter and turned to leave.

Hinata's voice interrupted him. "When you go, you are taking me."

Naruto faltered in his step before nodding. He turned to face his wife. "When he receives the message, I'll come get you." He smiled. "Now get back to your genin. And don't let this distract you too much." He watched as Hinata smiled at him and leapt away to rejoin her team. The Rokudaime looked back down at the letter and smiled. He was looking forward to finally having some answers about his son.

* * *

Albus Percivel Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was enjoying a lemon drop in his office during a brief break from the myriad of paperwork that always accompanied a new year of schooling at Hogwarts, when a thump at his window caused him to jump. He turned to see a school owl trying to right itself as it fell away from his window. With a lazy wave of his wand he opened the window and wordlessly summoned the pitiful bird. He held the exhausted owl in his arms as he untied the letter attached to its leg. "Well well well, what do we have hear? You look like you have had quite an adventure my feathered friend. Let's see what is so important that it must be delivered to my office."

Albus let the bird rest on his desk, the majestic creature laying quite haphazardly a top his paperwork. He scanned the odd envelope to find that it had been addressed to Albus-san and to be sent to The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts, which indicated some understanding of the magical world. The envelope itself appeared to be made of muggle paper, which indicated a muggleborn student, most likely one from a squib from a magical household. He opened the envelope and withdrew the paper letter. The message inside was short and puzzling.

_Albus-san,_

_I look forward to meeting you. We have much to discuss._

_Uzumaki Naruto_

Albus contemplated the letter's contents trying to comprehend what the it could mean. The method of address reminded him of some oriental cultures he'd experienced in his youth. He stroked at his beard for a few minutes trying to piece together the puzzle when he noticed something on the back of the letter. He turned it over to see unfamiliar markings. They appeared to be a sort of runes, but none that he had ever encountered. He was preparing to contact some old acquaintances to get some answers when his world took on an unusual shade of orange. When his vision returned he was greeted by the site of a tall blonde man in long orange robes standing in front of what appeared to be a slightly shorter blue haired blind women.

The apparition within the boundaries of Hogwarts only gave him a slight pause before he drew his wand from his belt. When he tried to bring the wand to bear he felt someone wrench his arm and take the wand from his hand. He turned to see the same blonde haired man standing at his side holding his arm against the table with one hand and his wand with the other. He looked back to see that his eyes were not deceiving him: the exact same blonde haired man stood several feet in front of him with a smirk on his face. "Now now Albus-san, it wouldn't be polite of you to-" the man cut off his statement mid-sentence as he stared dumbly at the Elder Wand. "Is that a stick of wood? What on earth were you planning on doing to us with this little stick of wood?" The man holding his arm tossed the wand to his doppelganger, who began to fiddle with it.

It was at this moment that the blind women stepped forward. "Ano, Hokage-sama, I believe that must be the wand mentioned in the letter." Albus flashed his eyes toward the woman. She must be referring to an acceptance letter, but for wizards of clear power to show such ignorance of magic bothered him. There was still much that he did not understand. Albus locked his gaze with the some and set his face into a soft genial smile, his eyes twinkling as he reached out into her mind to find out just who she was.

As he stepped softly into her mind he began to draw on her surface thoughts, but felt an odd resistance to his intrusions. He placed a little more magical effort into his tasks when he started to feel his magic weakening. She was clearly not an Occlumens, but had some means of preventing access to her thoughts, and the more he struggled the weaker he felt. His head swam and his stomach churned as a wave of nausea overtook him. He stole a glance at the woman and noticed the protruding veins around her eyes, which contrasted against her soft features. He saw her conversing with the blonde man but could not hear what they said, the sound of his own blood rushing to his head muffling them. In desperation he tried to withdraw his magic from her mind, but found himself unable to escape. He applied additional force to his escape, and was happy to feel himself pop free of the oppressive situation as he collapsed backwards into his chair. He allowed himself a few moments to breathe deeply in an attempt to calm his raging stomach.

The women's eyes were still changed, and made her a great deal more intimidating than his previous estimations. He had no doubt of her sight now, and the way she was looking at him made him assume she could see far more than the average person could hope to. She spoke in a soft, quiet voice that understated her power. "I apologise Dumbledore-sama, I am privy to an array of sensitive secrets, which necessitates my defenses against mental intrusion. You clearly have a great deal of mental fortitude to have weathered the defenses so admirably. I would ask you to refrain you from making any further attempts to do so. Where we come from, such attempts on the Hokage are a capital offense." Her voice was quiet but firm.

The woman took a deep breath, and Albus noticed the air in the room lightened. The great wizard inclined his head slightly in a bow. He was so unused to dealing with threats he'd nearly forgotten how. He smiled softly. "I must apologize for my behavior. We clearly come from cultures vastly different from each other. My infraction would be an embarrassment here, but nothing so serious as that which you described. You clearly come from a culture of secrecy and deception to care so much for concealing knowledge." He reached out and withdrew a candy from the glass bowl on his desk. "Can I interest either of you in a lemon drop?"

To his surprise the blonde haired man stepped forward with a smile on his face. He reached into the bowl and grabbed one of the candies. "I'd love one." He popped it into his mouth and began to suck on it in a comical fashion. "Mmmm mmm, you sure know your candy Albus-san." He grinned and pulled up a chair and sat down. "As you probably have guessed, we're here to talk about this letter you sent us." The man pulled out the two pieces of parchment that accompanied all Hogwarts acceptance letters. "You may not realize it, but you caused quite a scare when you sent a message directly to our house. Carrier birds have to go through a standard mail office in order to validate the message being passed on isn't an attempt to send a trap through the mail system. Your attempt to send a message directly to the Hokage's manor, directly to my son, constituted a violation that could start a war." He shrugged. "As you said, different cultures. Once we figured out what was going on, I realized I had to meet you, because you clearly have information about my son, and that is information I value highly. So what do you know about Harry Potter?"

Dumbledore instinctively sat up straighter at the mention of the name. The missing child from the night Voldemort died was the matter of great speculation for the old wizard. No signs of his body, no signs of his death, he always assumed someone had captured him or killed him. These strangers asking questions about him lent a good deal of credence to those theories. "I know a James and Lily Potter, who had a son named Harry. He has been missing for some time. Do you know about his whereabouts?" If these people captured Harry, he would need to get him back as soon as possible. His current predicament set his mind into overdrive.

The woman frowned. "Hari-kun is our adopted son. We have raised him since the death of his parents." She paused for a moment considering her words. "We want to know what caused their deaths, and why you have now reached out to him." The way she pronounced Harry's name felt odd and the story seemed suspicious. It wasn't until the blonde man produced a letter that appeared to be from Lily Potter that their story began to make sense.

Albus looked over to the blonde man. "Erm, Mr. Naruto, would you be so kind as to return my wand? I need it to verify some things I'm beginning to suspect, and then we can all have the answers we seek."

Naruto grinned as he rolled the wand across the desk back to Albus. The wizard was a bit shocked at the ease which he regained his wand, and wondered if it would be best to turn it on these two interlopers. The look on the blonde man's face though reminded him of the many tricksters he'd dealt with in his long years as headmaster. He felt doubt in his mind that even with his wand he would be able to restrain this man. He waved his wand and muttered some words of power, and the letter illuminated the entire room. A few seconds later and the light faded. "As I suspected, this entire letter is the product of magic. Old, powerful, raw magic." He turned to the two others in his office. "It would seem, that somehow Lily's magic chose you to raise her son. You must understand, I have long thought Harry to be lost to this world. The letter you received was another piece of magic, and it was sent without my knowledge." He looked at the letter, and then back to the two. "If you don't mind my asking, where are you two from?"

Naruto leaned back casually in the chair. "We're from Fire Country. Konohagakure to be specific." Albus frowned as he wracked his mind for a country in the east that might be called Fire Country by locals. Seeing his confusion Naruto continued. "Ya know, big forest region, near Wave and Sand?"

Albus frowned, becoming more concerned. He summoned a globe over to his desk. "Could you show me on this map where you come from?"

Naruto looked over to the pale eyed women with some hint of trepidation. She moved forward and spun the globe slowly. "I'm afraid this map does not contain anything that would resemble the geography we live in. It would appear that we live on very different worlds." The woman spoke as if this concept were perfectly natural. The man shrugged as if it didn't matter.

Albus for his part was dumbstruck. The idea of other worlds had been pure conjecture, but these two seemed unfazed by the thought. "That is most unusual." He leaned back in his chair and brought his hand up to his chin. He knew Lily had been researching very old potent magicks, that modern spellcasters could not use for an unknown reason. She claimed to have a way of defending against the Killing Curse, and mentioned spells of love and self-sacrifice that could grant heightened protection to someone. Perhaps a spell that potent could backfire and send a child off to another world. Given that he was at a loss to explain the phenomenon, he resolved to take a trip to Godric's Hollow. "Most unusual indeed. I myself will have to make some investigations into what happened."

The man looked back at the women before turning with an inquisitive look on his face. "Mah mah, Albus-san, certainly you know when he disappeared? What happened to his parents?"

Albus cut away from his musings to the man sitting in front of him. He hesitated before answering. These people were clearly dangerous, and their knowledge of Harry Potter lended itself to the story that they had raised him, but it was also possible they were trying to deceive him. If the quill had sent a letter to Harry, it was possible that these people were holding Harry against his will, and had intercepted his post. He couldn't detect deception, but he reminded himself that these people were clearly more than they let on. "I wonder, why did you not bring Harry with you? I would very much like to see him again."

Naruto frowned slightly. "He's ah, wasn't available. 'Sides, I'm more interested in finding out what you know about my son on this trip." He wore a disarming expression on his face.

Albus stroked his beard, trying to decide how to proceed. He spoke slowly and softly, picking his words with great care. "Ah, you see I was good friends with Lily and James, and I would be much more willing to help if I knew that their child was well."

The women's eyes hardened, as she inhaled sharply. Naruto leaned over and placed a few fingers on her forearm, as she quickly collected herself. "I understand your concerns. Unfortunately we do not currently have sufficient proof that we are taking care of him." Her eyes seemed to retract as the veins around her eyes fell back against her face.

A pause hung over the room as the parties attempted to find a path past the impasse. Naruto brightened. "Hey, I at least have something." He bent down and started fiddling with his sock. When he stood back up, he produced a small wrinkled picture which he handed to the ancient wizard. On it was the woman, in considerably better spirits standing behind what appeared to be a exact likeness of James Potter, albeit with a most peculiar outfit. The boy exuded a calm confidence in the image. Albus looked up to see the woman glaring at Naruto. "What? I like to keep you two close." The glare continued. "It's not like I'm some undercover agent Hinata. And it's sealed to self destruct." Hinata let out an exasperated sigh.

Albus considered the situation, and admitted that the couple appeared to be who they claimed. However, that did not diminish the need for him to better understand what was going on. An idea took root and he ran with it, hoping to appease these intruders. "I will gladly give you all I know, about both Harry and his parents. First though, I would like to meet with Harry." The woman made a motion towards him but he held up his palms. "I do not doubt you have taken good care of the child, but there is merely much information I require that I can only obtain after I have met with Hari."

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other, before Hinata spoke in a more relaxed tone. "That is acceptable, however as we said before, Hari is currently unavailable."

Albus frowned again. How could the parents of Harry not produce the boy? "I beg your pardon, but may I ask why he is unavailable?"

Naruto spoke up this time. "He's currently outside of Fire Country on a mission for our allies in Wave." He seemed to wax nostalgic. "He should be back in a few days. We can come then. I'd prefer it actually, to bring you to Konoha rather than bring Harry here."

Albus struggled to contain his shock. The parents had sent their child out of the country, to do work? He was grateful at Naruto's final request, as it suddenly seemed imperative that he find out everything he could about Harry's upbringing. "That would be acceptable. Ahem, if I may be so bold, what sort of mission is he on?"

Hinata spoke up quickly. "I'm sorry Albus-san, but that's classified information."

Naruto however rolled his eyes as he drawled, "Mah, mah Hinata, I doubt Albus-san here is going to cross worlds just to spoil Hari-kun's mission. Hari has been given a C-rank mission to protect a train of supplies from bandits that have shutdown supply lines in Wave Country. Supposedly, there may be a missing-nin in the area, which should be a good experience for him. I have every confidence in that team though. Iruka-sensei is a helluva squad leader, and both Hari-kun and Hanako-chan are powerhouse fighters. Either of them could fight at a Chuunin-level if called to."

Albus now failed to hide his shock. Hinata had buried her head into the palm of her hand. Albus spoke in a soft voice. "You mean to tell me that you have sent your son out on a mission in which he is expected to fight off armed bandits?" Albus wondered what on earth had they done to James and Lily's child.

Hinata was the one to speak up in a longsuffering tone. "Hari-kun is a shinobi of the leaf, just like Naruto and I are. We both were doing such missions at his age. He is admittedly more skilled than either I or Naruto were at that point, and that warrants more dangerous missions, but his father has ensured that he only operates in allied territory."

Albus wanted to keep getting information, but was notified that Minerva was entering through the gargoyle. He waved his wand to close and lock the door to his office. "Alas, I appear to have forgotten about another meeting I must attend to. However, it would seem we both have much to learn from each other. I will await your return when Harry is ready to meet with me."

Naruto stood from his chair and moved to wrap his arms around his wife. "I'll come the same way I did today. Please don't throw that letter away." He heard a knock coming from the other side of the door. "And don't try to trap the letter either. I wouldn't like that very much." As the two disappeared in a flash of orange, Albus stood to unlock the door, still contemplating just what had possessed Lily to leave her son in the care of such dangerous people.

* * *

Uzumaki Hari sat nervously in the cargo crate he had stowed away in. He guessed this was when the creeping doom of the situation was supposed to set in. His sentry had informed him that the leader of the bandits was a man who fit the description of Red Hands Okano, a vicious B-ranked missing-nin from Rock Village who took sadistic pleasure in dismembering victims. Hari pieced together that the missing-nin he fought was Saszo Itori, a genin that fled Rock with Okano, which explained the disguise.

Unfortunately for Hari, Okano had no intention of being caught by a Konoha team today, and decided that the situation called for rapid retreat. Hari listened as gasoline was being splashed against the walls of the freight train, preparing it to be burnt while the bandits fled. Time, it would seem, was the enemy again. He knew that Iruka and Hanako would need about ten more minutes to catch up to him. He also knew that the odds of him surviving a fight with Okano, Itori, and about thirty other bandits was unlikely.

There was always the easy out, call his father and have him level the place, but he knew he'd never grow as a ninja if he didn't learn to stand on his own. There was only one enemy he'd call his father in for, and he hoped to god he'd never have to face down that bastard again.

He leaned against the walls of the container and brought his hands together in a diamond ship, resting his forehead against the tips of his fingers, as he let the nervousness and fear drain out of his body. He needed to think of what he was going in order to still take breath after ten minutes passed. Despite how much of a threat as Okano and Itori were, the thirty bandits en masse were the real tricky part of this equation. Attempting to take out either ninja with surprise was sure to be foiled with as many eyes watching as there were. Better to disorient the help and blitz Itori and Okano fast, withdraw quickly and leave them wary of a trap. Henging a number of clones into non-descript Konoha ninjas may give him the illusion of a superior force. He'd need there to be enough dust that a clone disrupting could be confused with a person substituting. If he created enough chaos, he could sneak out of the fray to safety.

With as little prep time it was the best he could come up with, and even then he could see Shikamaru-oji-san frowning at him in his mind. It would be safer to create a more destructive threatening initial blitz and take off immediately to intercept Hanako and Iruka, and then give chase, but the most likely result of that was the missing-nin escaping. He could spend the better part of his reserves and summon a greater snake, but Okano's skill set was well suited to fight large powerful enemies.

No, he had the best plan that didn't sacrifice the mission, and given that this confirmed there were missing-nin harassing their ally, it was worth the risk. He quietly formed fifteen clones, each taking a different form as the spread around the crate. Two clones placed explosives tags in the cracks of the door. The sound of gasoline trickled off, and Hari felt the heat of the fire as he triggered the seals. The door exploded outward into a group of confused bandits, followed by a half dozen kunai leading tags. A series of explosions shook the surrounding area as Hari and his clone army dashed into the fray incapacitating every bandit in reach. The bandits began to flee as soon as they realized they were under attack, and Hari began to scatter along with them.

Hari thought he was going to pull it off when new memories caused him to fall into a roll, narrowly avoiding a kunai aimed at his back. As he stood up he saw Okano a few feet in front him with his arms crossed over his chest. "Going some where little ninja?" He took a step forward as his eyes widened in delight. "Ho ho ho! I know you Uzumaki-kun. Your Hokage is going to make me a wealthy man when I extract your ransom." He sneered menacingly. "And if not, then I will get to watch you die as I crush your tiny little neck." Hari stood up and realized he was caught between the two missing-nin. He readied himself in a combat stance. "Oh you plan to fight us little genin? I thought they drilled the Bingo Books into you before sending you in the field." Hari steadied himself as he felt the killing intent rolling off of the psychopath. "You should know you have no hope of beating us."

Hari received a signal memory from one of his remaining clone and detonated two explosive tags that were placed by two of his stealthier summoned snakes. The explosion and fire caught Itori off guard who was blasted to the side. Hari turned and ran, the body of Itori lying still near the raging inferno of the freight car. Okano cursed and began to chase him. Hari had the advantage in speed, and was starting to pull away from the former chuunin when a large spiked wall of rocks rose up from the ground to impede his path. "No running for you, you rotten little bastard. I think I'll send you home to your daddy in a body bag." Hari turned and tossed a pair of kunai, only to watch them bounce off of Okano's hardened skin. The man didn't even slow from the attacks and managed to clip Hari with a punch.

Hari quickly retreated to consider his options, noting the pain that the glancing blow had caused him. It appeared Okano was using a technique to add some thickness to his skin and some weight to his punch. He continued to dodge around, hoping to buy a little time. He doubted his snakes would be able to puncture the man's armor, and his clones wouldn't be able to do much more than slow them down. His wind elemental Jutsu's weren't horribly matched against an earth user like Okano, but his skills weren't well refined in that area, and he doubted prevailing winds would do much against a man who was apparently made of stone.

The chase continued for another minute before a well timed tremor jutsu caused Hari to lose his footing. He attempted to scramble to his feet, but he was quickly pinned under the foot of the missing-nin. "End of the line brat. Any last words?" A familiar surge of chakra from behind the spiked wall gave the missing-nin enough of a distraction to allow Hari a short ranged substitution jutsu. He ran away from the wall, which exploded at the base, and began crumbling down.

As the dust and debris rolled away, Hari saw Hanako, standing atop the rubble, her skin red from utilizing the third gate and her right hand bloodied. Hari pulled two kunai from his weapons pouch and leapt forward to engage Okano. Okano managed to easily parry the attacks but was left open to Hanako's blinding speed. Her left hook knocked him back a few feet as Hanako stepped up next to Hari. Hanako turned to Hari and spoke, "Red Hands Okano? Hari-kun how do you always end up in these situations?"

Hari smiled as he shrugged. "What can I say? It's a gift." Hari smirked as he faced Okano. "What do you say Okano, ready to give up? You should know that you have no hope of beating us."

Okano reddened at the rebuke. "You snot nosed little punks think you can take me? I'm gonna grind your bones to dust!" Hari formed a group of four clones that intercepted Okano as he raced towards them. Okano had managed to disrupt two of the clones when Hari pulled of a substitution jutsu with a clone to get behind the missing-nin. Hari grabbed Okano's arm and managed to get it into a weak lock, which slowed him long enough to allow Hanako a solid hit to his shoulder.

The skin on Okano's shoulder and arm shattered revealing another layer beneath it. Hari quickly pricked his finger on a kunai and ran through the seals he'd grown very familiar with. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Okano was defending against Hanako's onslaught with his other arm when he noticed dash forward. Snakes shot from his hand and buried their fangs into his now exposed arm. Okano leapt back from Hanako who seemed content to allow him the space. Hari dismissed the snakes before any harm could come to them. Okano's foot slipped as he took a few steps back. He looked down quizzically at it, rapidly blinking, before falling to one knee. Hari gave Hanako a bright smile as he saw his jounin-sensei come into view. "Ohayo Iruka-sensei! You're late!"

Iruka's withering stare was sufficient in causing Hari to back off. "We'll talk about this later Hari-kun." He turned to the barely conscious missing-nin now laying on his back. "Red Hands Okano, it looks like your crimes have finally caught up to you. You will be held by Konohagakure until we can arrange extradition to Tsuchigakure. We'll see how well the Tsuchikage appreciates the fact you murdered his grandson." The man on the ground let out a cough before finally succumbing to the poison and passing out. "Right, Hanako-chan, please bind the prisoner. I need to chew Hari-kun out." Hari turned to Hanako, noting that her skin had faded back to the tan hue it normally held, indicating she had managed to seal the heavenly gates once more. She gave him an apologetic look for slowly moving over to Okano. He felt a little bit of shame reminding himself that pushing her to those limits really did take a lot out of her.

Iruka grabbed Hari by the shoulder and led him away from the scene of carnage and started speaking in a soft tone. "Hanako-kun was worried about you Hari. She kept telling me not to worry, that you had everything under control. She trusted you, and she trusted your skills. And then we saw the fire, and the explosions." Hari looked down at his feet. Iruka-sensei had two kinds of chewing outs. There were the ones where involved a lot of loud yelling, and the ones where he quietly pointed out just how bad Hari had screwed up. Hari still didn't know how to deal with the latter. "She was in quiet a state when she left me behind. She raced blindly toward the scene, and she moved faster than I could follow her. If there had been an ambush set up, she'd be dead right now, because she couldn't possible be aware of her surroundings at the speed she was moving. It was actually very stupid of her. Do you know why she did that?"

Hari knew the question wasn't rhetorical. He needed to understand his teammate. "Because she's terrified of losing me too. After losing Shidan and her father, the thought of losing me causes her to act without regard to her own well being. And I am a horrible person for exploiting that fact to get speedy backup." Hari stared hard down at his feet. It was true, and he felt miserable as the realization of what he'd done passed over him.

Iruka continued. "You are a very skilled ninja Hari, and you are every bit as cunning as your father. You hold a large amount of control over Hanako, and I need you to understand that. Soon we're going to be looking at you for Chuunin, and today you gave me some questions about your leadership. You're a helluva a shinobi Hari, but you really need to view people's emotions delicately before you begin to use them." Iruka placed his hand on Hari's head, who looked up to see a small smile on Iruka's face. "You're a good kid. I know you'll do better in the future. C'mon, let's go help Hanako and get on the road to Konoha."

Hari nodded his head quickly and waited for Iruka to turn his back on him before bringing his hand up to wipe the small amount on moisture gathering at the edges of his eyes. He hated screwing up, and he knew he'd need to make this one up to Hanako. He resolved to do something nice for her once they reached Konoha. He let out a slow breath and walked over to where she was finishing up her bonds for Okano. "Hey Hanako-chan. You finished trussing this guy up?"

She looked up from the knots she was testing. "Yeah just about. Sorry about that, hope Iruka-sensei wasn't too hard on you."

Hari smiled sadly, "Listen Hanako. I'm… I'm sorry about what happened today. Iruka-sensei says you were pretty upset about what happened, and I…I just want to apologize. I shouldn't have made you worry."

Hanako looked at him for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around his back in a bone bending hug. A moment later she loosened her grip and held his shoulders. "Idiot…I'm always going to worry about you." She wiped her arm across her eyes, and he could tell she'd been holding back tears that were now falling. She blinked a few times before sniffing. "Just…just try to be careful from now on."

Hari smiled and leaned in to give Hanako a hug. "I'll try to be safer in the future, Hanako." He slowly broke away from the embrace. "I don't want to make you feel like this." He smiled. "You're my best friend, and I hate to see you so miserable. I'll do my best to be smarter from now on."

She laughed as she dried her eyes again with her sleeve. "Hah, as if that'll happen, Hari. You're way too much like your father for me to have much hope for that." She picked up the body of the large man and placed him on Hari's shoulder. "For worrying me, you get to carry the bounty. C'mon, Hari-kun, let's go home." She turned and made her way back to Iruka who was waiting for them by the fallen earth wall. Hari grinned as he adjusted the weight of the bounty and began to slowly follow behind her. It was good to be going back home in one piece.

* * *

Yay, I'm totally back in the saddle with this one. As always, I love me some reviews. Good reviews, bad reviews, comments, suggestions. Heck given what a jerk commenter I used to be feel free to flame me if you really need to.

Thanks for getting this far, hopefully I'll be able to get further with this story than I have in the past.

Especially feel free to comment on the scene with Albus. That was the most difficult to write as well as the most contentious.


	2. Keeping Secrets

Disclaimer - I'm pretty sure putting a disclaimer here serves no legal purpose

**Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts  
**Keeping Secrets

_"Three can keep a secret, if two are dead" -Benjamin Franklin_

Albus was exhausted. His trip to Godric's Hollow provided no additional clues to the situation Harry Potter found himself in, but he did find a journal of Lily's notes within the dormant Potter vault. It contained a wealth of information about blood magic, old magic, spells of sacrifice, and the similarities between them. Albus determined that she was attempting to design a spell of protection for her son, using herself as a sacrifice. In theory, the spell should have provided incredible defenses to Harry against the Dark Lord and his minions. However the spell was built on such unexplored foundations, the ancient wizard was unable to evaluate exactly what had gone so wrong with the spell.

He felt the thin wafer of his lemon drop crumble under his tongue. He hoped a good night's sleep would bring him new insight to these problems. With his deluminator he snuffed out the candles within his office, and stood to make his way to his bedchamber.

Then for the second time in so many days, his vision was filled with a vibrant orange light. Decades of fighting had his wand in hand in a flash, but decades more of aging had taken their toll on his body, and he found himself tumbling as he attempted to turn on the intruder. A powerful hand grabbed him by the arm and brought him upright. "Mah mah, I'm sorry Albus-san. I didn't mean to startle you."

Albus looked up into the face of Naruto, the mysterious man who claimed to have raised Harry Potter. Albus replaced his wand and brushed down his robes. "It's alright Mr. Naruto. You simply caught me as I was preparing to retire for the evening."

The orange clad man seemed to regard his window for a second. "Ah, I'm sorry Albus-san. I was actually coming to let you know that Hari has completed his most recent mission, and will be back in Konoha shortly. I was hoping to bring you there now." He scratched at his head. "If you need to rest, I can return in a few hours after you've slept some."

Albus considered him for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I would like to see Harry as soon as possible. Just allow me a moment to collect some things." He flicked his deluminator again to provide some light to the room while he moved to his desk. With a flick of his wand, a drawer opened with a series of glass vials. He pulled out a prepared potion of alertness and the cocoa bean reagent that went with it. After dropping the bean in the vial and shaking it vigorously for three and a half seconds, Albus imbibed the concoction and immediately felt better. "There we go. It wouldn't do to meet young Harry with my mind so addled." He looked back down at the potion cabinet and came up with the seed of an idea. He reached in withdrew a smaller crystal vial, and placed it in a courier bag that also contained a few items he'd prepared for this trip. He took a moment to write a note to Minerva in case he was needed while away, and notified the gargoyle to allow her access to his office. "I am now ready to proceed Mr. Naruto. How shall we be doing this?"

Naruto stepped forward and placed his hand on Albus' shoulder. "I'll be pulling us both back there. Don't worry, I've done this a ton of times now. Shouldn't be a problem at all." The world dissolved in a flash of orange. The first thing Albus noted upon completion of the transit was the lack of any real feeling associated with it. Apparition feels like squeezing yourself through a tube, portkeys have the feeling of being drug along, and floos can be quite chaotic, so the complete lack of feeling associated with this form of transit was oddly discomforting to the old wizard. The second thing he noticed was the looming mountain with six faces carved into it, one of which appeared to be the likeness of Naruto. In front of them was a three storied white building which seemed to back into the mountain. "Welcome to Konoha Albus-san! If you'll come with me, we can wait in the tower for Hari-kun to arrive." Naruto led him into the building and up two flights of stairs.

They came to an entry room that led to a large set of double doors. In front of the doors was a desk where a pretty woman with platinum blonde hair was seated. She looked up as they ascended the stairs and smiled. "Good afternoon Hokage-sama."

Naruto smiled. "Good afternoon Ino. This is my guest, Albus-san. He is the man who wished to meet with Hari. While he's here, make sure he's looked after." Naruto offered a seat to the old wizard before taking one himself.

Albus turned to the woman before taking a seat. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms. Ino."

"Likewise Albus-san. I'm sorry to interrupt Hokage-sama, but Shikamaru-san is waiting in your office, and he mentioned he has critical intel he needs to debrief you on."

Naruto groaned and stood up from his chair. "I'm sorry Albus, but it looks like I'm needed at my post. I hope you don't mind waiting here for a few hours. I can bring you some food or a book if needed."

Albus casually waved Naruto off. "No need Mr. Naruto. I have brought several books I need to read. Please to be sure to let me know when Hari arrives."

Naruto nodded. "Okay. Ino is my personal assistant, so if you need anything, please feel free to ask her. I'll make sure you are informed as soon as Hari enters Konoha." Naruto stood from his chair and walked into his office, grumbling under his breath along the way.

* * *

Shikamaru watched Ino cheerfully filing reports at her desk from his vantage point behind the false wall. He grimaced as she continued to misplace documents, no doubt ruining whatever system Naruto used to organize that desk. Given that the normal secretary was a clone of Naruto, and he kept his filing methodology a secret, he couldn't really fault Ino for attempting to keep up with appearances.

The door leading into the observation room slid open as Naruto walked up next to him . "Eh, Shika...you think this will work?"

Shikamaru did not turn to face his leader. "I would be careful asking questions like that. You never know what places Ino has bugged, and she wouldn't take kindly to you questioning her skills."

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly while casually glancing around the room. "I'm not doubting Ino's interrogation skills. Heck, I'm the one who put her in charge of T&I. I'm just not sure Albus will take the bait."

Shikamaru watched the ancient man produce several tomes that he began to read. "No, Ino reviewed your meeting with him. She produced a preliminary profile on him, one which I think still holds. There's something about Hari he wants, and eventually he'll realize that being your secretary, she should know things about your son. He will engage her, and then the interrogation can begin. You just need to be patient Hokage-sama." Naruto's impatience was one of his less admirable qualities, which caused Shikamaru to enunciate it more often than not.

Naruto groused at the comment, but stood quietly and observed Dumbledore as he paged through his dusty tomes. After a few minutes, Ino began humming an upbeat tune to herself, which seemed to catch Albus' attention. The old wizard appeared to be focusing on the Ino. "You think he's rooting around in her mind?"

Shikamaru glanced over at Naruto. "I don't know, you were the one who saw him do it last time. What did it look like when he did it to Hinata?"

Naruto shrugged. "I was examining his stick thing when he did it. He didn't seem too happy about the mental protections I designed."

Shikamaru smirked. "I mean no offense Hokage-sama, but your sealing techniques don't really compare to the protection of the Yamanaka clan. It is unlikely Dumbledore will realize what's going on if he does invade her mind."

Naruto nodded and fell silent, waiting for Dumbledore to make the next move. It was another ten minutes until Dumbledore set his book aside and approached the secretary's desk. Shikamaru grinned. "It's showtime."

* * *

Albus approached the assistant's desk with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Her mind was fairly scatterbrained, but amidst the various personal vignettes that he encountered, he had seen several that contained Harry Potter. Perhaps he could get some valuable information from this woman. "Good afternoon Ms. Ino. I was wondering if you would be able to tell me more about this wonderful village I find myself in."

Ino looked back towards the Hokage's office for a moment. "Well... I guess that would be fine. What would you like to know Albus-san?"

Albus waved his wand to summon a chair for him to sit on. Ino's mouth appeared to drop at the spell. "I am most curious about the Naruto's son Harry."

Ino composed herself. "Albus-san. What... what was that? I've never seen anything like that."

Albus chuckled at her. "That my dear is magic. All witches and wizards are capable of creating all sorts of wondrous spells. That was a simple summoning charm." He relaxed in the chair. "Now, I was hoping to learn more about young Harry."

Ino smiled. "Of course, of course. What do you want to know about him?"

Albus smiled as he conjured a small cup of tea. "I was hoping to find out more about his childhood. When his parents died, I would've been tasked with finding a suitable place for him to live. I just wish to know he was well raised."

Ino nodded. "Hari-kun has been raised by the leaders of our village, which allowed him the best opportunities afforded a child. I know that both of them love him dearly."

Albus frowned for a moment. "I must admit that I was deeply disturbed when I heard that Harry was made to take jobs in foreign lands. What do you know about that?"

Ino tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I guess being a ninja does require you to work outside of the country. Is that weird where you are from Albus-san?"

Albus nodded. "Most definitely. Children his age are just beginning their education at Hogwarts. It wouldn't be until they completed their education that they would be expected to enter an occupation, and most children would continue to live at home even after graduation. Working outside of the country is something many adults never do."

Ino considered his words. "It would appear we have very different cultures. Most children Hari's age are sent on missions for the village, but they are accompanied by older ninja when they do so." She paused a moment. "If children do not begin their education until this age, then what do they do up until this point?"

Albus scratched at his chin. "Most of our students spend their times living at home, being raised by their mothers and enjoying the freedom one has during their childhood years. Some students of ours spend their time in an alternate schooling, until tuition to ours is rendered. I must admit, Harry is the first student who appears to have completed his education prior to receiving his Hogwarts letter. It's quite a concerning discovery."

Ino shrugged. "I guess we've never known anything different." She paused. "So this is about a school for Harry? What would he learn there?"

Dumbledore smiled as he drew himself up. "Hogwarts is the premier facility for educating young witches and wizards. There they will learn everything they need to excel in the wizarding world, from Charms to Potions. I actually instructed Harry's parents when they attended. I was most aggrieved to realize that I may never see another Potter in my school."

Ino leaned forward and rested her chin on the palm of her hands. "So you were close to his parents? What were they like?"

Dumbledore reminisced fondly on those happier years. "Lily and James Potter were a couple more mismatched than any I'd ever encountered. James Potter was the firstborn son from a well respected magical family, Lily was the first witch in her entire family. James was troublemaking hellion who got himself and his friends into more trouble than I can remember, and Lily was a serious and driven student. Oh my, the two of them fought vociferously in the early years of their stay at Hogwarts. It wasn't until five years after they met that they began courting each other, but after that everything moved so quickly with them." He let out a tired sigh. "I suppose they had to move quickly, or Harry would've never been born. Desperate times lead to desperate actions."

Ino frowned as he drifted off. "I'm sorry... what do you mean by that. What were the desperate times?"

Albus appeared to jar himself from his reverie at the question. He considered the woman in front of him who seemed to hang on his every word. He wasn't sure how the conversation had gotten so far afield. He opened his mouth to say something when the a presence appeared at the top of the stairs. His words caught in his throat as he saw a perfect copy of James Potter ascend the stairs, wearing a green and brown ensemble, carrying a large man on his shoulders. "Ohayo Ino-san, I got a present for you!"

* * *

Uzumaki Hari was glad to be back home. The trip home had been long and burdensome thanks to a fairly heavy bounty who had to be constantly sedated to prevent a possibly violent encounter. It was all coming to an end however as the gates of Konoha came into view. A pair of chuunin were manning the gates. When they noticed the man on his back, they excitedly hurried them through the gates, and directed him to the Hokage's tower where Ino was located.

When they entered the tower, Hari left a clone with his team to start the debriefing while he dashed up the stairs, excited to see his dad after so long away. He jumped the entire last flight of stairs and landed on his knees, seeing Ino sitting at his father's normal post. "Ohayo Ino-san, I got a present for you. The chuunin at the gate couldn't believe we managed to bag Red Hands Okano, but they said I could find you here." His voice was bursting with pride. "Figured you'd want to process this guy ASAP." Hari noticed the ancient man standing next to the desk. "Hey Ino-san, who's the old guy? Man, I thought Kakashi-sensei was old, but this guy looks ancient."

The stunned expression on the old guy's face was a bit off-putting, but the irritated glare from Ino sent chilled Hari. He screwed something up, and even if he wasn't sure what, he knew being back in Konoha had allowed his guard to slip and screw something up. Worse, the person annoyed with him was Ino-san, head of torture and interrogation, and vindictive disciplinarian. He swallowed the spit in his throat and attempted to salvage the situation.

Ino had closed her eyes to compose herself. "Hari-kun, this is Albus Dumbledore. Albus-san, this is Uzumaki Hari. Excuse me for a moment." She turned to the door behind her when it opened to reveal Naruto with a bright smile on his face.

Hari felt a calm rush through him. Seeing his father after an extended operation was always a balm for the young ninja, though he made sure to stiffen his posture out of deference to his Hokage. "At ease Hari. Ino, please escort Hari's bounty to interrogation. Hari, Albus-san, I think it's time we had that meeting." Albus gaped as Hari shrugged the weight of a full grown man off his shoulder and onto the floor. Hari stared him down through his goggles, trying to determine why the man seemed so unnerved by his presence. He slowly crossed the room to the Hokage's office, their gaze finally breaking as Hari walked past him into the Hokage's office. He heard hurried footfalls from behind as the old man entered after him.

The boy was surprised to see the Hokage offer him a chair, but gratefully accepted it while trying to puzzle out what was going on. The old man took his seat as well, but continued stealing glances in his direction. Hari noticed Shika-oji-san standing in the corner, watching the events with the same bored, detached expression he always wore. Hari fought the urge to speak out of turn to his uncle, realizing that perhaps this old man was the reason they were attempting a subtle approach.

Naruto nodded to the group. "Just one second and we can start. Hinata will be arriving shortly." Hari couldn't suppress his excitement as a bright smile broke out on his face. Seeing his mother was also a top priority after being away for more than a weeks time. He bounced slightly in his chair when his father shot him a wry glance and tapped on his nose. Hari calmed down, trying to contain his emotions was one of his weaknesses as a ninja.

A minute passed when the doors opened again, and Hinata flowed into the room. She was picture of serenity as she walked over to him and leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome home son. I've missed you." It wasn't the full body hug his mother normally gave him, but he realized things were not normal at the moment. She took her place next to Naruto.

Naruto cleared his throat. "So, Hari. Three days ago, we received a letter for you on behalf of Albus-san. It was an acceptance letter to an academy for witches and wizards. It seemed to originate from your birthplace." Hari sat up straight and turned to face the old man. If this person knew about the circumstances of his birth then it was vital to gather whatever intelligence he had. Ino's role made perfect sense and he felt all the more silly for ruining it. "Albus has agreed to provide us with some information, but he requested to see you first."

Albus smiled warmly at him. "Good day Harry. My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I am headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a place of magic and wonder where children learn all manner of spellcraft. We teach transfiguration..." He drew his wand and with a wave of his hand, a pair of walnuts were transformed into a small ceramic tea cup. "Conjuration..." With another wave of his wand, the tea cup filled with a dark liquid. "And charms!" With a final wave of his wand steam rose from the liquid. The old man brought the cup to his lips and took a sip for affect. "As well as many other types of magic." Hari was intrigued by what he saw. The ability to prepare food without a fire could vastly improve nutrition and safety while on the road. The academy had drilled into them how to build a smokeless fire, but it wasn't always feasible. The old man interrupted his musings by leaning over and drawing a small stoppered vial from his sack and placing it on the table. "This is a potion. Potions are magical liquids that have specific properties. They can cure illnesses, mend wounds, transfigure their imbiber, as well as many other properties. This one for instance, can be applied to force the drinker to speak only the honest truth. I was hoping that I could ask you a few questions after you imbibed this."

Naruto looked nervously to his wife, who had the same expressionless face she'd entered the room with. Shikamaru leaned forward from the wall to quietly whisper something Hari could not make out. Hari was feeling a sense of dread. Lying was part of the ninja way, and the fact that he was considered quite bad at it did not endear him to the idea of drinking a potion that would make him worse at it. He put on what he thought was an innocent face. "Why professor, I'm sure that won't be necessary. You do trust me right?"

Dumbledore chuckled jovially. "Oh my, Harry, you most certainly are your father's son. He too was a rambunctious scamp, and I have been headmaster far too long to miss the signs of a child trying to pull one over on me." Hari was curious about that. This man apparently knew his birth parents, and being compared favorably to his father was oddly comforting. "Besides, Mr. Naruto and Mrs. Hinata have already informed me that your culture is distrusting. I assumed that this might be a fair way to remove the bonds of mistrust between us."

Hari looked over to his father is desperation. The Hokage had to realize how bad this could be if the wrong question was forced to be truthfully answered. Naruto winked. "Ah Albus-san. My son, like my wife, is privy to Konoha secrets. It wouldn't do for you to ask a wrong question and learn something that ought to have stayed secret." Naruto relaxed in his chair. "However, I think this could be a very interesting experiment." Hari glared furiously at his father, whose eyes sparkled with mischief. "I see no problem with you asking questions of Hari, so long as we screen the questions first. You must understand, security is a top concern."

The Hogwarts headmaster nodded amicably. "I see no problem with that." He pulled the stopper from the vial.

"And one last thing. If you would apply the potion to yourself first, and then say that you aren't poisoning my son." Albus looked up at him. "Can't be too careful now, can we?"

Albus nodded. "Of course, not with the safety of our children at stake." He applied a single drop of potion to his tongue, and then waited a moment before replacing the potion's cap. "I Albus Dumbledore, so swear that I am not attempting any harm to Harry Potter." Hari's nose tweaked at the way Albus used his name, but his father seemed satisfied.

Unfortunately, this just sealed his humiliating fate. Albus approached him with the vial and soon three chilly drops of heavy liquid fell onto his tongue. He didn't feel any different from the potion until his father asked a simple question. "Son, what is your name?"

Hari intended to mouth off to his father a line about his deeds being so great that he's

earned many names, but as he attempted to speak his mouth betrayed him. "I am Uzumaki Hari."

Naruto looked intrigued while Hari looked petrified. He opened his mouth and the truth escaped. Dumbledore and his father seemed to be going back and forth over a piece of paper, when Albus finally spoke. "Harry, aside from your activities related being a ninja, what was your childhood like."

Hari attempted to speak gibberish, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the words were all changed. "I grew up the son of the Hokage, leader of the village. I had many friends who I spent time with, and many adults who looked after me. My mom and dad have always been there for me when I needed them, and I love them both very much." He blushed brightly at the admission, and bit down on his offending tongue.

Again Albus and Naruto haggled over the next question to be asked, while Hari tried to focus his resolve on maintaining perfect silence. "Harry have you ever been abused?"

Hari's blood froze. He'd been dreading this question for months now, and to have it asked now was ruinous. He clamped his mouth shut, willing himself to stay silent. "Yes I have." He saw both his mother and father whip their heads around in his direction in shock. His face burned with shame as he switched tactics and spoke quickly to mitigate this disaster. "I was on a mission seven months ago to grass. A group of bandits managed to capture Hanako and I." Hari began racing at the mouth, aware of the shocked look on both his mother and father's face. "I aided her escape but was recaptured and was tortured for an evening before Hanako and Iruka-sensei were able to rescue me. I was able to hide any signs from my teammates and didn't include it in my report. Hanako and Iruka didn't know I swear." He spoke in a rush. His teammates couldn't suffer for his failures.

After a moment, Hinata moved over to Hari and wrapped him in a tight embrace. He reciprocated the hug, still awkward at the display in front of this stranger. Her voice was barely a whisper. "We can talk more about this later Hari-kun." She kissed him on the forehead before sitting down in the chair and pulling him into her lap.

"You could've told us son..." Naruto murmured as he slumped backwards into his chair. Shikamaru had vanished from the room, though Hari couldn't honestly pinpoint when the lazy genius had taken his leave. Most likely when things had become so emotional.

Hari did take note of the look of revulsion on the elderly headmasters face as he looked at Naruto. "Hey! Don't you dare look at them like that. This wasn't their fault. I fucked up and almost got Hana-chan and I killed. My mom and dad have done everything they could to keep me safe while still letting me be a ninja. You don't get to come in to this office and look at them like that." Hari added with some emotional heat. His father still looked miserable sitting in his chair, which disturbed Hari deeply.

Albus collected himself into a more neutral expression. "I apologize young Harry, it was merely a story I was not prepared for." He paused as he considered his words. "Where I am from, no child would be expected to endure such a hardship."

Hinata spoke in a voice just loud enough to be heard. "No child should ever be expected to suffer such abuse." She sniffed quietly. "It is a harsh reality of our lives that such cruel people still exist."

Albus allowed another moment before he wrote on the pad of paper again. He showed it to Naruto who glanced briefly at it and waved it on. Hari had no intentions of letting this interrogation happen any longer. He grinned as he realized a way to protect anymore secrets from spilling. He pulled his arms away from his mother's back and made a few unobtrusive seals with his hand and his entire body was coated in a thin layer of whirling wind. His mother's clothes fluttered under the effect as he turned to Dumbledore with a mischievous grin. The air drowned out any other noise as the headmaster spoke. Hari watched intently as the headmaster questioned whether he'd been abused at any other time.

"No, that was the only time." Hari inwardly groaned. It seemed reading lips was enough to trigger the damnable potion. He quickly closed his eyes and buried his head into his mother's chest. Satisfied with his sensory deprivation technique, he considered his next move. He was trying to determine a safe escape route when his mother tapped on his shoulder twice. He looked up at her face to see her mouth that his interrogation was complete.

He dismissed the wind technique as he heard the headmaster speak. "Well now Harry, I must commend you on your ability to withstand interrogation, even under the most powerful of tools. That was quite clever." Hari smirked as he twisted in his mother's lap to face the headmaster. He felt somewhat embarrassed by the scene he now found him in, but his mother seemed quite content to keep a hold of him. "You have satisfied my curiosity, so I shall satisfy yours. Your parents were James and Lily Potter, a witch and wizard who attended Hogwarts twenty years ago. They fell in love while still in school and were married shortly after leaving. They fought with me in a war against a fearsome Dark Lord who threatened to conquer our nation, while committing unspeakable atrocities. When Lily gave birth to you, they sequestered themselves away." Dumbledore's expression soured. "Unfortunately, they were betrayed by one of their closest friends, and the Dark Lord killed both of them. What else happened that night is something of a mystery. It is commonly believed that the Dark Lord killed Harry Potter, and such an unspeakably evil act caused his own magic to attack him, or perhaps he'd given an unbreakable vow or taken a geas at some point in his life to not commit such atrocities. Either way, when we arrived at Godric's Hollow, we found the bodies of James, Lily, and the Dark Lord, and Harry was nowhere to be seen."

As Albus winded down, Hari felt his mother shift slightly in the direction of Naruto. He looked over and saw his father nod briefly. "Ah... Albus-san, were you aware of any disfigurations or scars Hari had when he was young?"

Albus considered the question. "No, Lily and James were quite careful of young Harry. I saw him before they went underground, and he had nothing of the sort." Naruto turned to Hari and nodded. Hari reached behind his head and undid the tie holding his hitai-ite in place and brought it down to his side, allowing the odd lightning bolt shaped scar to be revealed.

He felt immediately uncomfortable as Albus was in front of him, staring intently at the scar. "Well now, that's most unusual." He turned to Naruto as he held up his wand. "Mr. Naruto, do you mind if I cast a spell on Harry. It should allow me to better understand what happened that night, and what caused this scar." Naruto looked very apprehensive, when Albus grabbed the crystal vial. He took a drop to his tongue before speaking. "I promise you that this spell will cause young Harry no harm whatsoever."

Naruto frowned, but acquiesced with a nod. Dumbledore moved his wand in front of Hari's scar in a slow deliberate motion, while mumbling nonsense under his breath. A dark black light caught Hari's eye from his forehead, which Dumbledore stared at intently. "Fascinating. It appears that you were struck with a most powerful curse when you were younger."

Hari spoke up. "What's a curse? What did it do to me?"

Albus spoke in a teaching voice. "A curse is one of many different types of spells you will learn at Hogwarts. This one is the most terrible of curses a wizard can cast, and it is known as the killing curse."

Naruto frowned. "Err, what does that curse do?"

Albus wore a very serious expression. "As its name implies, the curse will kill anyone who is struck by it. There is no spell of protection that can protect you. It is the most vile of spells, and casting it is forbidden by law."

Naruto was nonplussed by the answer. "If that's the case then how did Harry survive being struck by the spell? That doesn't make any sense."

Albus nodded. "Lily was researching a potent spell that could protect him from the Dark Lord, and appears to have succeeded in protecting you from the unprotectable. However, your transit here is something I haven't puzzled out. It would appear from her notes that she did not anticipate anything of this sort, so I would imagine something went wrong."

Hinata gave her son a hug. "I would like to think that something went right." Hari blushed at the words of affection. His mother was usually very affectionate, but she was also usually more discrete about it. He didn't really blame her, this meeting had gone terribly wrong.

Albus frowned as the dark light vanished from Hari's forehead. He was soon casting the spell again. The dark light reappeared, and Albus gasped. "This can't be right."

Naruto looked over at Albus with a frown as he leaned back in his chair. "Mah mah, Albus-san, what's wrong?"

Albus looked closely up and down Hari's torso. "It seems that Harry is … lacking his magic."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "No magic eh? What's that mean?"

Albus was concerning himself with verifying the results. "It would appear that Hari is missing the magical presence to cast any spells, but that's impossible. James and Lily would never have produced a squib..." He trailed off has he squinted. "Wait, I think I can see it now. It's so faint, it's almost like it's been drained."

Hinata spoke softly. "I think I know what you are talking about Albus-san. When Hari was younger I could see a brightness within him, much like I can see within you. Over time the … thing seemed to bleed into his chakra. It's gifted him with incredible chakra reserves."

Albus seemed dumbfounded by the response. "You mean you can... see magic?" He frowned. "That should be impossible."

Hari felt oddly ambivalent about his lack of magic. "That means I won't be able to learn any of this magic then? That's a shame, it sounded useful. I guess that means I won't have to go to your school though."

* * *

"I guess that means I won't have to go to your school though."

The words hung in the air as Albus felt his blood freeze. Harry Potter was the Boy Who Lived through the Killing Curse. He was the hero of prophecy. Staying here could doom all of the wizarding world to fall under the rule of Voldemort. Still, the fact that Harry was a squib certainly put a damper in his plans. It forced him to at least consider other options concerning the prophecy. The Longbottom boy was also a potential candidate for the prophecy, and Albus had long assumed the boy would be the hero to face Voldemort upon his revival. However, while Neville was marked by the loss of his parent, viewing an actual scar marking Harry's forehead left little doubt in Dumbledore's mind. He had to figure out a new angle. Thankfully, he'd only taken a single drop of Veritaserum, or else this would be impossible. "Well Harry, there is much more to Hogwarts than just learning about magic. I believe attendance would do you well, as you would learn quite a bit about wizarding culture."

Harry frowned. "Yeah, well, I don't think I would really care about wizarding culture. I mean no offense, but I'm quite happy fitting into ninja culture. I'm not really sure why I'd need to fit in your world."

Dumbledore scratched at his chin. Perhaps taking a more emotional appeal would work. "This is your parent's history we are talking about Harry. They would have wanted you to experience a long standing wizarding tradition."

Hinata turned her son to face her. "Son, I know you've always had questions about your birth. This might be an opportunity to finally put those questions to rest."

Hari smiled and shook his head. "Albus-san has answered enough of my questions for me. I may have been born in his world, but I belong here with my family."

Hinata's proud face only further sent the headmaster into desperation. "Harry, I realize you were raised here, but I think you must consider your parents wishes. They would have seen you safe within the castle of Hogwarts away from this violent and dangerous work."

Harry, Naruto and Hinata all stiffened at this. For the first time Albus noted that Naruto had some rather sharp canines, and the whisker scars on his face now made him seem especially feral. "Now you listen to me. I've had just about enough of you insinuating that Hinata and I aren't fit parents, or that this world isn't right for our son." Naruto was standing behind his desk and Albus noted that his eyes were now red. He was beginning to doubt his course of action. "You say you know what his parents wanted, but I know what they asked of us: to love Hari as if he were are own child, and damnit that's what we've done!"

"Hokage-sama..." Albus shifted towards Hinata. Her eyes were marred by throbbing veins.

"I'm tired of listening to this bullshit Hinata. We've been nice, we've been accommodating, but this jerk has just been pissing me off, and I won't stand to listen to him disparage you anymore."

"Naruto, be quiet." The blonde seemed to deflate, and the air in the room suddenly felt less oppressive. The woman deftly extracted herself from the chair, leaving Hari seated where she had been, and walked over to Albus. Her gaze was intense as she stared into his eyes. "He is lying. He is not speaking on behalf of former students, but out of self interest." She closed with him until she was standing over him. "Now you will tell us why you are so interested in my son."

Albus' stomach dropped. He was caught in very precarious situation. He briefly considered attempting to force his way out of this situation, but dismissed it given that Naruto was the only one he knew that could return him home. That his wife's eyes fell on his wand as he considered it cemented it as a bad idea in his mind. "I'm not sure what you mean. I'm here on behalf of Harry Potter and..." His voice died away. He cleared his throat. This was going very poorly, and he needed a moment to think. "I … apologize for my misdirection. It is … my interest in your son is due to … very sensitive knowledge."

Hinata took a few steps back from him and leaned against the desk. "I understand your hesitance to give up critical intelligence Albus-san. I hope you understand that as Hari's parents we are going to get that information. I would recommend not encouraging us to resort to alternative interrogation techniques."

Albus understood the not so veiled threat and considered the implications. Perhaps the goal would be to spin this correctly. "Very well then. Harry is the subject of a prophecy that I have been given. The knowledge of this prophecy is only held by a select few, and they are all sworn to secrecy. It mentions the Dark Lord and a child, and the child will have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. It also mentions that until this happens, the Dark Lord will stop at nothing to destroy the child."

Harry seemed to perk up at the mention of vanquishing a Dark Lord, and turned to his father, who was now scratching the back of his head. Hinata looked thoughtful. That was far less of a reaction than he was expecting. "A prophecy you say? Sounds like our boy already solved that problem when he was a baby."

Albus shook his head no. "I have spent a considerable amount of time attempting to verify the Dark Lord's death, and I can assure you that he is still very much alive, clinging to life through unknown means."

Naruto nodded his head as though that made perfect sense to him. "Got it, you have an undead dark lord thing, and we have a son who's apparently supposed to kill him." He scratched his chin. "We may have a way to work this out. I'll need to confer with my wife and son in private, and we'll have an answer for you tomorrow. I can show you to some quarters, and we'll make sure your needs are accommodated and what not. Is that alright with you?"

Albus was terribly confused. Telling them that their son was to be an instrument of war against a dangerous Dark Lord should have been met with revulsion, not intrigue. He considered bringing the point up for a moment before dismissing it out of hand. "That sounds most gracious of you Mr. Naruto." Dumbledore provided what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Harry spoke quietly. "Err, before you go." Albus turned to regard the boy, who almost certainly had questions about the enormity of what had been placed on his shoulders. "How long does this truth potion last? I really hate being forced to tell the truth." Or not.

Dumbledore chuckled quietly. "Three drops of Veritaserum should leave you susceptible to questioning for a mere three hours."

Harry's face flushed. "Three hours! How on earth am I supposed to keep it together for three hours."

Hinata chuckled. "I'm sure you will find a way my son. You are free to go."

Albus watched as Harry left with a look of bemusement. Naruto approached him. "My old apartment isn't much, Albus-san, but it's secure and has any amenities you might need." Naruto grabbed hold of Albus, and for the third time, he felt his world dissolve into a haze of orange.

* * *

Hari received a series of upsetting memories from the clone he'd assigned to attend debriefing while he processed Okano. Apparently his father's clone had received a memory burst from the one that was seated in the interrogation with Dumbledore. That meant that Hanako and Iruka had both learned of his treatment at the hands of those damn bandits.

He was currently hidden in a dark unused room of the Hokage manor. It was a new hiding spot for him, and it should have been sufficient to hide him for at least a few hours. Ten minutes later the door opened to reveal Hanako's frame at the door. "Hari-kun, I know you're in here."

Hari sighed as Hanako walked into the room. She pulled Hari up from the corner he was hiding in and hugged him tightly. "You idiot! You should've told me what happened. I'm your friend right?"

Hari returned the hug before separating to sit in a chair. "Of course you're my friend Hana-chan. I did this because I didn't want you to feel worse than you already were. After Shidan died..." He paused. "You were kind of a mess. I didn't want you blaming yourself for any more stupid shit I got us into."

Hanako frowned as she sat down at the table next to him. "You still blame yourself for what happened to Shidan." She placed her hand over his.

"Of course I do, because it's my fault. Hebisoka warned me that she could taste something foul where we were going, but did I listen to her? No, and because I figured I was such a badass little shinobi, we come headlong into the web of Orochimaru." Hari punched the table in anger, which managed to do little more than crack his knuckles. "So you're damn right I blame myself for Shidan, and I'd expect you would too."

Hanako had tears in her eyes as grappled him into a somewhat painfully tight hug. "You idiot... I don't blame you for what happened to Shidan. Nor do Shino-san or Ten Ten. Now stop blaming yourself this instant!"

Hari shuddered in her arms. "I don't know when I'll be able to do that Hana-chan. I'm sorry."

Hanako loosened up on the squeeze. "Then will you at least tell your friend here what the hell happened with those bandits." She had a look of dread on her face. "It... it wasn't sexual abuse was it."

Hari shook his head quickly. "No, nothing like that. It was just... y'know, some beatings, some drownings, a couple of hot pokers, a lot of spitting. They sure did like spitting in my face for some weird reason." He frowned. "I think one of them was getting off on it, and he said he was going to enjoy breaking me in, but you guys rescued me before any of that could happen."

She pulled him down into a chair so he was seated on her lap. He wasn't really a fan of how many women were treating him like a baby today. He could forgive his mother, but Hanako was a bit more awkward than that. Not that he was in any mood to argue with her. "Oh god Hari, I'm so sorry. If I had any clue-"

"You'd have rushed in head long like you did against Okano. I know you would Hanako. I...I was fine. You came right in time. Don't blame yourself for this." He pushed himself into the embrace. She needed this as much as he did. What a messed up pair they were.

The two of them sat there for awhile Hanako rubbed at Hari's back trying to provide comfort around the uncomfortable topic. After a couple of minutes, Hanako seemed to compose herself, which settled Hari down. "This was good Hari. We need to clear the air every once in a while. I mean, you typically aren't quite that open with me." She paused and eyed him suspiciously. "What gives?"

Hari became very nervous. "I'm currently under the effects of a potion that force me to answer questions I can perceive truthfully." He saw her grin widen as he quickly reformed the wind technique that blocked his hearing and vision.

He could hear the low distressed sounds of her voice, but he refused to to release his technique. After a few seconds he felt her hands take his as she slowly began tapping on his palm. He was trying to figure out what she was doing when his brain automatically started resolving the taps into a signal code they'd worked out. He tried to pull his hand away desperately but against the daughter of Rock Lee and Haruno Sakura, he didn't have a chance. He let out a low growl as the message was coming to a close. "You are so cruel Hana-chan! You are so mean Hana-chan! Fine yes, I think Temari-san is very hot. Yes I think she has amazing boobs. I WILL find a way to make you pay if you tell ANYONE Hana-chan! You know I'm telling the truth because of this stupid potion! I hate veritaserum!"

* * *

It was later that evening as Hinata was relaxing in the luxurious private bath that was installed in the Hokage's manor. Being the wife of the Hokage had it's occasional perks. She was adding some salts to the water when she noticed Naruto approaching the door. Over the years her Byakugan had improved her vision to the point she could keep track of her surroundings without activating it. That didn't stop her incredibly sneaky husband from constantly getting the drop on her, a feat that should have been impossible. Of course, doing the impossible was something routine for her amazing husband.

That she could see him approaching meant that he was still in a funk from their earlier encounter, and the fact that he was approaching and not one of his clones meant that he was in need of her to help comfort him. Hinata didn't really mind that most of her interactions with her husband were through his shadow clones: being the wife of the Hokage meant she was more than willing to make the necessary sacrifices to ensure his safety. That she was the only one who could ever identify the real Naruto gave her quite a bit of comfort. It was one of the few ways she was able to get one over on her tricky husband.

She watched as he summoned a pair of clones to guard the entrance, and quickly erected a number of seals on the door, walls, floor and ceiling of the bath room. She reached for a vial of oils that would be useful in soothing her tense husband. He quietly entered the room and disrobed himself while she continued to lather her body with soap. She'd actually finished cleaning herself, but she knew the sight of her bathing was something Naruto appreciated. He was still silent and withdrawn as he entered the pool next to her, his eyes roaming across her body as she dipped under the water to rinse off. He reached out an arm to wrap around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. She leaned her head against his and leaned her body into his embrace. "Hinata-chan... you are so beautiful."

She blushed. Even after all the years married to him, his praises could always make her feel amazing. "I'm glad you think so, Naruto-kun." She tilted her head up and gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek.

He gave her a goofy grin as she felt his body loosen up. The mood didn't last though as he let out a sigh. "The room is safe. We … need to talk about what's going on. I need to know what you are thinking Hinata."

Hinata considered the comment and nodded. "Albus-san is quite bizarre. What did Shikamaru and Ino have to say? He seemed genuine to my eyes, but I am not nearly as skilled as Ino at detecting falsehoods, or as skilled as Shikamaru at understanding motivations."

Naruto shrugged. "They said he seemed to be genuinely embarrassed to have given up the information about the prophecy. And shocked at our lack of a reaction. I don't think he was holding back, but he could simply be way better than us. If that were the case though, I don't think we'd have managed to catch him at such unawares on our first meeting."

Hinata bobbed her head. "That's... what I expected. You are thinking that this is a way to protect Hari aren't you."

Naruto nodded slowly. "He's... becoming more and more powerful, but he's just drawing bigger and bigger enemies to him. We can't hold him back without him resenting us for it, but it's just going to get worse from here. This world...is new and interesting. There are plenty of things for him to learn, not just about wizarding, but also his heritage." He let out a sigh. "And it seems safer than our world."

Hinata frowned. "I... I don't like the idea of sending my son away on such a long term mission." She lowered her voice. "He's still young... there are only so many more years I have with him until he is his own man." She sniffed. "I don't like the idea of him spending the time I have remaining off in a different world."

Hinata sniffed back a tear as Naruto shifted her so she sat in his lap. He wrapped her up in a tight hug. "I know Hinata-chan. I hate it too. I love that little guy so much, and I just want him to stick around spend the rest of his life in our house." He let out a sigh. "But we've raised him better than that. He's a ninja through and through. He'd never just give up on that for the peaceful life. He feels the duty to the village and the duty to his comrades." He squeezed her tightly. "I'm proud as hell of the kid."

Hinata leaned into Naruto's embrace as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "He won't like this. He'll see it as us breaking up Team Iruka. He'll worry about Hanako-chan. He's very loyal to her." She smiled warmly. "They remind me of you and Sakura when you were there age." She recalled the pink haired genin bashing Naruto over the head for asking her out. "Well, perhaps you and Sakura when you were a few years older."

Naruto let out a low baritone chuckle that vibrated through Hinata's body. "Heh, yeah. Well the good news is that Hanako-chan is pretty much ready to undergo Gai's more advanced training. And just in time." He deflated a little bit. "Gai-sensei's youth is starting to gutter. It won't be too long before he won't be able to pass on all of his lessons."

Hinata looked up into Naruto's morose eyes. She rubbed gently at his back as she kissed at the corner of his mouth. "Gai-sensei has lived a long life Naruto. It is a testament to their skills that both he and Kakashi-sensei seem poised to survive into retirement. Once they do, it will be our job to keep them safe."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "That we will." He massaged his wife's back as he looked up at the ceiling. "Back to Hari-kun though. You didn't answer me. What do you want me to tell Albus-san."

Hinata closed her eyes and shut down her byakugan, giving her a few moments of darkness as she considered the scenarios. Missing out on son's remaining youth was a bitter pill to swallow. She already felt that he was taking too many C-ranks that kept him away from her, and her own genin team meant she had even less time. On the other hand, this would be safer, and if she could provide her son the best odds to survive the violent life that he'd chosen, she would sacrifice nearly anything to make it happen. "Could you see if there would be times we could visit. Or if there are times he could visit us? I... I don't want to lose him for so many years." She let out a breath as she opened his eyes. "But this may be a safe place for him to become more powerful. And if I can give my son any advantage, I will."

Naruto gave her a squeeze. "I'll talk to Hari tonight. I'll convince him this is a good idea." He tilted her head up to his, not that eye contact was something she needed to see his mischievous grin. "Now, it appears that we have a room with a substantial amount of privacy, and a solid half hour to waste. Do you have any ideas of what we could do to fill the time Hinata-chan?"

Hinata blushed while sporting a playful grin. "I might have an idea or two." She leaned up and took his lips in her own.

* * *

Hari climbed up onto the stool situated between Iruka-sensei and Hanako at the Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Ayame waved to him as he put in an order for a bowl of pork ramen. Dinner at Ichiraku's was a tradition for the team after C-rank missions. Hanako greeted him warmly, their altercation from earlier apparently forgotten. "Evening Hari-kun, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine". Hari was ecstatic that the stupid veritaserum had finally worn off.

Hanako rolled her eyes. "Man, even without that potion, you really are the worst liar Hari-kun."

Iruka-sensei chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Hari's shoulders. "Ah Hari-kun, Hanako was telling me about your ordeal. I'm sure that wasn't very comfortable for you, but I'm glad to hear you weathered it bravely."

Hari's eyes narrowed as he looked over to Hanako. "Did she now? Is that all she told you?"

Iruka looked confused. "Eh, yeah. She said that someone gave you a potion that forced you to tell the truth." Hanako's eyes sparkled with humor as Hari watched her. "She said she went to chat with you about..." Iruka trailed off.

Hari felt the mood of the room deflate as their bowls were served. He needed to get this over with before it ruined their meal. "Iruka-sensei, I am sorry for hiding that from you. I did not want anyone to feel responsible for what happened, and that includes you. So I begging you don't feel bad about what happened." He looked over to Iruka-sensei. "Err...please?"

Iruka smiled awkwardly as he picked at the corner of his scar. "Alright Hari. If that's what you want. But tonight's ramen is on me. That'll be my penance for what happened, okay?" Iruka grinned and the weight lifted from the conversation.

Hari brightened. "Ha! Then I'm getting another bowl! One miso ramen Ayame-san!"

Iruka let out a bark of laughter. "Sometimes Hari-kun, you are so much like your father that it's scary."

Hari smirked victoriously as he began eating his first bowl, savoring the sweet flavor of the broth. He turned to see Hanako devouring her noodles, taking a moment to give him a wink. Team Iruka ate in silence for a few minutes, leaving Hari to his own thoughts. He found himself drifting back to the conversation from earlier. As he broke apart his egg, he turned to face Iruka. "Sensei..." He considered his actions briefly. Mission assignments were technically a secret, but he wouldn't feel right about not warning his team. "I think the Hokage might be assigning me to a solo mission."

Iruka looked at him doubtfully. "Hari-kun, are you sure these aren't more of your delusions of grandeur?"

Hari scowled. He had made big claims in the past, many of them he failed to live up to, but was he so bad that sensei jumped to that immediately? "No sensei. I..." He paused again. "I am not allowed to reveal why I'm being chosen, but I believe my parents may be looking to protect me." He huffed at the thought.

Iruka suddenly looked curious, but held his questions. Hanako spoke up. "Wait, if you are on a solo mission, what will happen to Team Iruka?"

Iruka reached over and patted Hanako on the back. "Don't worry Hanako-chan. The Hokage will not forget about you. He is far too terrified of your mother to ever do anything like that. Besides, he knows what he is doing. Have faith in him and the decisions he makes."

Hari nodded. "If I do go, I'm gonna miss you guys." He sniffed quietly as he took a bite of broth soaked egg.

Hanako grinned. "Aw, look at that sensei. Hari-kun is going to miss us. Isn't that cute."

Hari blushed. "Shut up Hanako! I was trying to have a moment here."

"We are having a moment. You're here sobbing into your ramen while we have a moment to laugh at how pathetic you are!"

Iruka chuckled softly. Hari and Hanako both shifted to look at him. "Well Hari, if you are to be sent away, we will both miss you. The village isn't the same without you around to cause chaos."

Hari grinned. "Well don't worry. As soon as I'm done I'll be back making your life interesting Iruka-sensei". Hari turned back to his dish and continued to chow down.

* * *

Naruto was working late into the night when Hari arrived home. His spies around the city had informed him that his son had goaded Hanako into going out to a local bar they played darts at. He suspected his son was trying to avoid the conversation he was waiting up for. Naruto cleared his throat which drew his son's attention to him. "Good evening Hari-kun. You're out late."

Hari blushed sheepishly at being caught. "Ah, I was out with Hanako-chan." He took a second to regain his bearings. "You're up late dad."

Naruto chuckled at his son. "I was hoping to talk with you about what happened today." Hari hung his head as he walked forward to the kitchen table. "Albus-san may have provided us with a very unique opportunity."

Hari cringed at the comment. "Oh? How do you figure?"

Naruto reached out and placed his hand over Hari's. "The chance to acquire a new client of course. This is our first time ever dealing with someone like him, and it would do well to attempt to forge a good relationship."

Hari scowled. "A client? It sounded like he thought we were his client. And what good is it to have him for a client, it's not like he has any ryou to pay for a mission."

Naruto wagged his finger. "Now Hari, you know that money isn't the only thing we care about. We have no idea what resources they have to offer us, but I know that Ino-san was quite interested in procuring a supply of that truth serum he brought. It would be foolish for us to ignore that. And yes, Albus may have indicated that he was trying to recruit you for your own education, his own agenda reveals that he needs you for a mission. I'm sure it won't be difficult to get him to see our way of things."

Hari still looked annoyed. "So is that the purpose of the trip? So I can earn new resources for the village? You aren't trying to do this one just to protect me?"

Naruto pulled his son into his lap and sighed. "Son, of course I'm doing this to try to protect you. You're very powerful, but you are still growing, and there are those out there who are still too dangerous for you to face alone. Heck, if Iruka's report is accurate, it sounds like you ran into a couple just in this last mission." He gave his son a hug. "Your mother worries. I worry. We know you want to be a ninja, and we are so proud of you. If I can do something to protect you though, I will. This is within my authority as Hokage." Hari's scowl was as fierce as it was petulant. "But that's not my only reason for sending you."

Hari's face melted into a confused expression. "Ah, why else then?"

Naruto gave his son a hug. "This is a chance for you to find answers to questions that we've never been able to provide. Who were your parents, what happened to them, what were they like, why did they send you away. Knowing these things is essential to knowing yourself." Naruto smiled as he watched his son consider the situation more completely.

"What will happen to Hanako? And what about Iruka-sensei. Are they coming with me?"

Naruto grinned. "Your concern for your teammates is commendable. Maito Gai has expressed an interest in providing some advanced training to Rock Hanako. Umino Iruka will likely be asked to oversee a few more classes at the academy. You do not need to worry about them."

Hari let out a sigh. "I understand. You are the Hokage, and I will respect your orders." He paused. "And I know you are trying to do the right thing for me, dad."

Naruto grabbed his son around the chest and ruffled his hair. "I knew you would son. Don't worry, we'll work out the details tomorrow. You go get some rest."

* * *

Hari stood behind his father at attention. He eyed the ancient headmaster impassively as the man stood from the bed he'd been sleeping in.

"Mr. Naruto, Harry. Good morning to both of you." He brushed down the wrinkles in his robes. "What can I do for you?"

"Albus-san, I believe today it is what we can do for you. Yesterday you revealed that you have need of my son to deal with a villain who is harassing your world. It is fortunate then that Hari is trained to handle such tasks. If you are interested, we could broker an agreement such that Uzumaki Hari travels with you to your world, for the purposes of ending this threat." Albus' eyes grew wide as Naruto continued. "Are you interested in Konoha's services?"

Albus stared at Hari with a melancholy expression. After a moment he spoke. "Yes, I suppose I am."

Naruto nodded. "In that case I'll have my subordinate draw up the details of this mission, and then I will return you to your office."

Hari took a step forward and bowed politely. "It will be an honor working for you Albus-san."

Albus sighed deeply and wondered how things had gone so very wrong with the young man in front of him.

* * *

Wow, thanks to everyone who faved, followed, and especially reviewed my last chapter, and thanks to everyone who's read this far. That means you. Yes, you there. I know you are reading this, so thank you.

I wanted to let you know that I appreciate all the feedback, and anyone who posts anything more substantive than "great work, update soon" will almost certainly get a reply from me.

Also, it's probably a good time to mention my open internet policy, so if you want to contact me, I'm on AIM at kodra22 or you can email me at kodra22 (at symbol) google's mail dot com .

Also, if you are interested in keeping tabs on the story, I've been putting updates in my profile.

I'm currently interested in the aid of a Brit picker, because I'm a yank, and while I have been hand waving my Ninja's affectations, I know british slang is something I'm also weak at and would appreciate help with.

Also, if you do feel like leaving me a review, let me know what you thought of the scenes with Albus and Ino/Naruto/Hinata. Having two parties that distrust each other trying to manipulate the other was a pain in my neck, and I would like to know if they were worth the effort.

Thanks for reading. I'll start work on chapter three shortly.


	3. The Best Disguise

Disclaimer - I do not own a dog. Or a cow.

**Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts  
**The Best Disguise

_"No mask like open truth to cover lies, As to go naked is the best disguise" -William Congrave_

Hari walked alongside Hanako towards the Hokage's office. It was finally time for the first phase of his mission to begin and she had taken some time off from her training with Gai-sensei to see him off. He flicked his wrist while they walked, drawing and sheathing his hidden kunai in a nervous fashion. He calmed down when he felt Hanako's hand press into his shoulder. "Relax, Hari-kun. You're going to do fine."

Hari attempted a smirk, but it wobbled slightly. "But who's going to pull my fat from the fryer when I do something stupid?" While he meant it as a joke about tendency to take risks, it struck a little too close to home.

She squeezed his shoulder. "I think you are going to have to learn how to be more cautious." She spoke with a gentle tone. Normally she was brash and energetic, but sometimes she got like this when she wanted him to pay attention. "This will be good for you, Hari. It's going to be different, and it will be scary being alone, but I believe in you." She smirked. "Dattebayo."

He scratched at the back of his neck while a blush crept up on it. "Thanks, Hana-chan." He stopped in front of the door and turned towards her. "I'm gonna miss you."

The girl stepped forward and gave him a hug. "Don't worry, Hari. My mom slipped that you'll be back every so often. We'll catch up then." She squeezed him. "And we've still got another month until the rest of the mission starts."

Hari hugged her back. "Thanks, Hanako." He nodded. "Time to get started. Good luck with Gai-sensei. Don't let him extinguish your 'flames of youth'."

She laughed and took off towards the Forest of Death. Hari turned back to the Tower and walked in. Shikamaru was going over some files on the first floor. The jounin commander was coordinating the mission and acting as his point of contact for any information he needed to pass. "Shikamaru-oji-san, is everything ready?"

He nodded slowly. "Are you ready for this, Mr. Potter?" The two had spent the past week going over all the data they gathered from Dumbledore and establishing his cover identity. The client had recommended that he assume the identity he had from his birth in their world. Given that it was always easier to sell a lie when it was mostly the truth, the two ninja agreed to use Harry Potter as his alias.

Hari nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm going to keep Hebisoka around as much as I can. It'll be nice to always have an ally around." Hari was honored that he was being entrusted with a solo mission, but the thought of being on his own was a little overwhelming.

Shikamaru opened the door for him. "Good luck Hari. I'll see you when you return for debriefing."

Hari nodded and walked into the small room where his father was waiting for him. "Ready, son?"

"I'm ready, Hokage-sama."

Naruto stepped forward and grabbed hold of his son. With an orange flash, the two of them appeared in an underground cellar. Hari noticed a small window at ground level he could exit from. His father was holding his head. "Whoa. This place is under some sort of Genjutsu." Naruto closed his eyes and focused. "I'm resetting my mental protection to try to block it out." He opened his eyes and looked to Hari. "Can't you feel that, Hari?"

Hari shook his head. "No, I don't feel a thing. That's … really weird. Maybe it's too subtle for me? Is it making the room seem like a cellar?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it was like, I couldn't even accept that I was in a real place. It was telling me that I was somewhere that didn't exist. I couldn't even make out any shapes." He frowned. "This might be a wizardry thing." He bit his lip. "Be careful, son. If something happens, you know how to get me. Don't hesitate if you're in over your head, okay?"

Hari nodded as he picked up a pile of clothes set on a workbench. He was told there'd be a disguise waiting for him. He quickly changed out of his combat gear into a pair of thin, stiff khaki pants and white, button-up collared shirt. Finally, he pulled a thick, red woolen shirt. The whole ensemble left him feeling incredibly exposed. He wished he could wear a wire mesh, but that might draw some uncomfortable questions if anyone noticed.

Finally, he was left with just a pair of glasses sitting on the table. He hoped this wouldn't deviate too much from Mr. Dumbledore's plans, but Shikamaru had agreed that the risk glasses posed to him was too great to include as part of his cover. He calmly reached up and removed his Hitai-ite and looked down at the symbol of the leaf on the metal. He hated parting with it, but it was a requirement for anyone going undercover. "Here, Dad, could you hold on to this for me?"

Naruto smiled warmly at his son as he took the forehead protector. "Sure thing, son. Keep your wits about you. I'll return when you signal me." With that, his father vanished in a burst of orange.

Hari pricked his finger on one of his kunai and quickly went through the seals for a summoning technique. A small brown viper appeared in the smoke. The snake hissed at Hari. _"Hello, Hari-kun, it's so good to see you again."_

Hari bent down and opened the sleeve of his wool shirt, allowing the serpent to coil around his arm. He spoke in a series of hisses. _"Hello, Hebisoka. It's time for the mission. Observe, and if you need to chat with me, give my arm a squeeze and I'll find a place for us to speak in private."_ The snake made its way up and down his right arm, now able to see out of a small opening in his sleeve.

Hari turned around and climbed his way up through the window on to a cobblestone street. He walked down the street a block, until he saw a sign for The Leaky Cauldron, his rendezvous location. He walked in to see a man, who managed to somehow dwarf Chouji-san, sitting at a comically undersized table eating a bowl of stew. He walked up to him. "Excuse me, are you Rubeus Hagrid?"

The giant looked over to the boy and pulled back. "Merlin, it is you! Harry Potter, I can't believe it. I thought Professor Dumbledore was havin' me on, but it's really you." Hari took a step back, only to find himself the center of the room's attention. He counted a dozen men and women moving towards him with looks of wonder.

"Harry Potter? Can it be?"

"I thought he was dead."

"I guess the rumors are true."

The throng of people pressed closer to get a look at him as Hagrid stood up and stepped behind him, sealing him in. Hari fought every instinct he had to draw one of his hidden knives, his mind quickly assessing the various people in the room as non-threatening. He blushed in embarrassment and frustration. When he picked out the cover identity, he hadn't considered the possibility that he'd be this famous. He took a deep breath. "Err, hi." He noticed a small break in the crowd by Hagrid's side and quickly maneuvered to behind him.

"Hey now, take a step back, you lot. No need ter spook the poor lad." Hagrid turned his head to look down at the now hiding boy. "No need fer that, Harry. You just happen ter be a bit famous 'round here." The crowd took a step back as Hari breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that, it's just that yer history with You-Know-Who gets people stirred up. Professor Dumbledore let slip you'd be attending Hogwarts, an' no one knows what ter think."

Hari tried to keep the anger he was feeling off of his face. Leaking news of his arrival was not a very good idea if he was going to keep his head down. Still, clients had a tendency to interfere with missions, and it was his job to roll with it. "It's fine, Mr. Hagrid, I was just nervous." He tried to smile. "Professor Dumbledore mentioned you'd be able to help me with my school supplies?"

Hagrid nodded. "That I am, Harry, but before we can do that, we ought ter stop by Gringotts."

Hari tapped his chin. "Gringotts?"

Hagrid walked towards the back of the bar, and Hari fell in behind him. "Aye, it's the Wizarding Bank. You'll need ter get some money for supplies, and I need ter do something there."

Hari frowned at this. He was a bit annoyed that he was playing everything by ear, but he assumed Professor Dumbledore had some plan. "Err, Mr. Hagrid, I don't think I have any money with Gringotts."

Hagrid turned back to him and grinned. "You didn't think your parents left you with nothing, did you? You'll be able to get some coins from your family's vault." He pressed some points on the wall with his umbrella. "And you can just call me Hagrid. Most people do."

Hari remained quiet as the brick wall pulled away revealing a crowded narrow street. Hagrid stepped forward, parting a path in the sea of people for him to navigate through. He took in each detail as they passed the shops, cataloguing each place he suspected he could find his school supplies, as well as other interesting shops. He noticed a gaggle of boys crowded around a broom shop examining a broomstick in the window. He overheard one of them mention it's speed, which still seemed utterly absurd to Hari.

Finally, the two of them arrived in front of a large off center building with the name Gringotts over top it. Outside, Hari noticed a man dressed in ornate robes with a large turban wandering back and forth muttering to himself. Hagrid moved forward to greet the strange looking man. "Ah, Professor Quirrell! Didn't think I'd be seein' ya here. How're ya doin' today?"

The man jerked his head up at the voice and twitched. Hari eyed him suspiciously. "Hagrid! Oh my, I d-did't expect t-to see you here either. And who is this young b-boy?"

Hagrid pushed Hari forward a step. "This here is Harry Potter. He'll be attendin' Hogwarts this year, and I'm here to help him with his supplies."

"P-p-potter! The headmaster s-said he'd be attending, b-but I c-c-couldn't b-believe it."

The stutter in his voice grated on Hari's nerves. "Good day, Professor Quirrell. What do you teach at Hogwarts?"

"D-d-defense Against the D-dark Arts. N-not that you'll n-need it." Hari frowned at the statement. Did this man honestly not think he'd need to defend himself? Or could he have already seen through Hari's guise. The crowded street wasn't making it easy for Hari to relax, which made it difficult to blend in as untrained. The man didn't seem to pay any additional attention to Hari, which made him doubt that he'd been spotted. Hari filed the remark away for further analysis. "You'll be g-getting your s-supplies, then? I'm off t-to p-pick up a b-book on vampires, m-myself."

Hagrid took Hari by the shoulder. "We must be going, Professor. Busy day ahead o' us."

The giant led Hari away from Professor Quirrell. Hari spoke quietly. "Is Professor Quirrell always like that?"

Hagrid nodded his head. "Brilliant mind on that one. Was fantastic at studying out o' books, 'til he decided ter take a year off an' get some firsthand experience. Went ter the Black Forest where he ran into some trouble wit vampires, and then had a spot o' nasty trouble with a hag. Never been the same since. Scared o' his own shadow, that one."

Hari swallowed his own spit. It sounded like they had a burnt out academy student teaching new students how to fight, which Hari thought was a terrible idea. He followed behind Hagrid as the two entered Gringotts.

Hari was still mulling over the bizarre defense professor when they strolled up to a window. There was a short, pointy-eared creature with a smile like a shark stamping papers as Hagrid introduced them. "Mornin', sir, we're here ter take some money outta Mr. Potter's vaults."

The creature stared down at Hari. "Do you have his key?"

"Got it here somewhere..." Hagrid patted along his clothes until he produced a tiny, golden key. "Here it is."

The creature took the key and examined it closely. "Yes, yes, this appears to be in order."

Hagrid pulled out a sealed letter. "And this is from Professor Dumbledore." He handed the letter to the teller. "It's fer You-Know-What in vault seven thirteen."

Hari perked up at the obviously sensitive orders being passed to the teller. The creature opened the letter and quickly scanned the contents. "Very well. Griphook will you take you down to the vaults."

Hari watched as another short creature walked towards them. He spoke in a whisper, "Hagrid, what are these creatures?"

Hagrid looked down. "Why, these be Goblins, Harry. They run Gringotts bank. They're mean, vicious creatures, but they're the best at protectin' gold. Yeh'd haveta be mad ter try stealin' anything from Gringotts." The goblin walked by the teller who handed him the letter and key, and escorted Hagrid and Hari to a series of rail tracks. Griphook whistled, and a cart came screaming down the path. The group loaded into the cart and was soon racing down the tracks. Hari felt Hebisoka tighten around his forearm, as the twists and turns disoriented the group. It was a somewhat effective method of confounding intruders, but Hari began to track every turn in his head. By the time they stopped, he had more than half of the turns figured out and hoped to get the rest on their return trip.

Hagrid stumbled out of the cart behind him. "Oof. Never did like them carts too much. Always made mah head spin." The giant leaned against a support pillar.

Hari watched as the goblin inserted the golden key into the lock of vault six eighty-seven. The door opened revealing a mountain of bronze, silver and gold coins. He knew that each gold coin was worth a bit over a hundred ryou, and as he looked to the side to get an idea of depth, his quick calculations put the vault at well over five million ryou. "This is all mine?"

"That's right, Harry. Yer parents wanted ter make sure you were looked after."

He bit his lip. So long as Professor Dumbledore wasn't lying to them, he already had a vast supply of money to purchase resources for the village. "How much will I need to purchase my equipment?"

Hagrid stroked at his beard. "I'd say around fifty galleons should be good."

Hari nodded and drew out about eighty gold coins from the pile and placed them into a pouch. He turned back from the vault and walked out. As Griphook closed the vault, Hari positioned himself to collect the key. The trio boarded the cart again to Hagrid's displeasure. "Can we take it a bit slower? 'S not good fer mah stomach."

"One speed only." The cart took off. Hari made sure to memorize the turns this time. The cart ride made it difficult, but his training allowed him to keep track of the various twists and turns. After a brief trip, they stopped in front of vault seven thirteen. Hari hopped out of the cart after the goblin and offered a hand to Hagrid. He shakily pulled himself up out of the cart and onto the platform. When Hari turned, the goblin was running his hand along the vault door, which slowly faded from view. Inside was a barren vault, save a tiny leather pouch sitting at the center of the floor.

Hagrid stepped forward into the room and retrieved the small object, placing it on the inside breast pocket of his jacket. "Best not ter tell anyone 'bout this, understand?"

Hari fought to keep his scowl hidden. It seemed that their client trusted this oaf to handle securing the transport of whatever that object was, despite the fact that he had access to a perfectly capable Konoha shinobi. He nodded to Hagrid and made his way back to the cart. As the cart sped back along the tracks, Hari kept looking back at Hagrid's exhausted face. When the cart finally came to a stop, the giant let out a foul smelling belch. "Sorry 'bout that."

Hari helped Hagrid from the cart, and as he pulled on his arm, he quickly slipped one hand into the giant's coat and snatched the small pouch. He let the package fall down his sleeve as he pulled Hagrid upright. "Thank yeh fer that, Harry."

"You're welcome, Hagrid." He let Hagrid lead them out of Gringotts, while he looked down at the shining, red stone that pulsed with warmth at his touch. He quickly wrapped it back up and slid it to Hebisoka. He was not sure why Dumbledore was securing this object, but he was sure that Shikamaru would want to know everything he could about this curious, red stone.

* * *

Hagrid left Hari to his own devices after leaving Gringotts, which gave him plenty of time to analyze the stone. Unfortunately, it appeared to be an ordinary gem that provided a minor amount of heat for anyone who touched it. Pushing chakra through it did nothing, and he didn't have any way of testing the magical properties of the stone. He slid it back up his sleeve.

He stopped in briefly at Flourish and Blotts to retrieve his school books, as well as an eclectic assortment of books on history, culture and every single text concerning Voldemort. The woman at the counter gave him an odd look but graciously accepted his galleons.

Once he was out of the store, he ducked into a small alley and stored his texts within a storage scroll. Satisfied that his purchases were safe, he made his way to his next target: a clothing boutique named Madam Malkin's Robe for All Occasions. As he walked in, a squat woman ushered him into the back of the shop. There was a blonde boy being fitted for clothes, standing atop a footstool. Hari took his place on a stool to the side of the thin boy. "Hello. Hogwarts too?" The boy spoke with a lazy drawl. Hari quietly nodded as fabric wrapped around him. "My father's next door buying my books, and my mother's up the street looking at wands." Hari widened his eyes. Did most children advertise the fact that if they were accosted no one would around to protect them? "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at brooms. I think I'll bully father into getting me one, and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Hari had to know what was going on here. "You must really love cleaning to go to such lengths for a broom."

The blonde snapped his head up and glared at Hari. "Cleaning? That's for the elves to take care of." He paused. "You must be a mudblood. Otherwise, you would know that brooms are for flying."

Hari attempted to process that statement. Apparently, elves were used for cleaning, brooms were used for flying, and his ignorance of this meant he was a mudblood. Not that he would mind being a mudblood, it sounded like a pretty awesome Rock ninja bloodline. He was crushed at the idea that he was born with the power of flight, and for the first time since this ordeal began, he wished that he'd kept his magic rather than the excessive chakra supply it provided him. Setting that aside, Hari returned his attention to the blonde. "I'm not sure I follow you."

The tiny boy sneered in disgust. "Of course you don't. Your kind ought not be allowed to attend Hogwarts. It should be left to magical families only."

"Well, my parents were magical."

The boy looked incredulous. "Then how come you don't know anything about magic?"

"Well, they're dead. I never really knew them."

"Oh." The boy deflated. "I'm sorry." Even if he wasn't sure how to think of his biological parents, this boy's insincerity grated on Hari. If he'd been anymore attached to their memory, he'd likely have taken a run at the pompous jerk. "And I'm sorry for mistaking you for a mudblood. You should make certain people realize you aren't."

Hari was annoyed that the boy somehow managed to be sincerely sorry about misapplying an insult, but not his own parent's death. Still, the boy had inadvertently given Hari more knowledge about the world he was entering. He opened his mouth to begin a new line of interrogation, when Madam Malkin chimed in. "Done, boy. Hop down now." Her tone was a touch colder than before.

He did as he was told. He noticed the proprietor was giving the blonde a nasty look. He turned to the boy. "It was nice to meet you. I'll see you at Hogwarts."

The boy nodded slightly, careful not to ruin the measurements already in place. "Likewise."

Hari collected the packages and paid Madam Malkin's before making his way out of the store.

* * *

The rest of the trip to Diagon Alley was largely uneventful. Ollivander's shop was an exercise in boredom, as Hari was asked to hold what felt like every wand in the shop for half a second, before they were ripped from his fingers. It was a solid half hour before Ollivander carefully produced a wand to great fanfare, that managed to produce a faint red light at its tip.

Mr. Ollivander seemed rather put out at the lack of a reaction, but still declared that this wand would be the one that best fit Harry Potter.

Hari was rather put out at the price and felt he could find a better use of seven galleons than a stupid, useless stick.

Upon exiting the wandmaker's shop, Hagrid met up with him with a caged, snowy owl in tow. The discovery that it was his birthday barely registered in his mind. To him, his birthday was always celebrated in the middle of harvest season, but he accepted the gift graciously. Hagrid's opinion that an owl was an ideal pet due to toads being unfashionable irked the boy, who had grown up close friends with Gamakaku. He didn't disagree with Hagrid's opinion on cats; enough mission's for the Fire Daimyo's wife had provided him with a healthy dislike for felines of any kind.

The pair stopped by a luggage store, where Hari purchased a non-magical trunk for carrying his supplies to Hogwarts. He was happy that was the recommended purchase, because he wasn't excited to discover what would happen if a storage scroll entered a magically enlarged space. His dad had once discovered that putting a scroll inside another scroll was a very bad idea, and his mother had discovered that letting Naruto experiment with sealing techniques inside their house wasn't any better an idea.

They wrapped up their trip at the apothecary, where Hari gathered the items listed in his acceptance letter. He did note that, at twenty-one galleons a piece, unicorn horns were the most valuable item by weight. It was always good to know what's valuable and easy to carry if you are on the run.

The duo wrapped up their shopping and returned to the Leaky Cauldron. "Harry, yeh sure you'll be alright makin' it home from here? Ain't no trouble to take ya there myself."

Hari smiled up to the large man. "Oh, don't worry about me Hagrid. My father will be by to pick me up shortly. He's still unsure about the whole wizarding thing."

Hagrid frowned. "Well, alright then. You make it home safely, Harry."

Hari leaned in and gave the giant an enthusiastic hug. He also managed to drop the ruby package back into Hagrid's coat pocket before suspicions could arise. After several assurances that he'd visit at Hogwarts, the large man finally left.

Hari quickly gathered the school trunk he'd bought to hold his purchases and exited the Leaky Cauldron.

The entrance to the basement was still open from when he had used it earlier. While his trunk made using it again impossible, he managed to use a substitution technique on the table. He hoped the locals weren't too weirded out by his redecorating. He quickly sliced his left hand on the kunai holstered along his wrist and pressed the blood against a seal on his right bicep. He felt the foreign chakra within it burn against his body.

Hari only waited a moment before his dad flashed into existence. "Evening, kiddo. How was the mission?"

Hari grinned at his father. "So far, so good. I should get back so Shikamaru-oji-san so I can go over my findings."

Naruto smiled warmly as he grabbed hold of Hari and the trunk. "Of course, son. Anything you can let slip with your old man?"

"Well, I did figure out why wizards are so obsessed with brooms. You're not gonna believe this."

* * *

Hari watched as the small ceramic cup in front of him was filled with steaming sake. His parents had decided to celebrate his extended mission to the world of wizards with a party in his honor, and part of that meant imbibing the traditional beverage. It was the last night before he had to leave, so he was grateful to see all of his friends and family one last time. His mother continued around the table, dutifully pouring drinks for any of the guests who requested it. His attention was drawn to Hanako, who was seated next to him and holding her cup in the air.

Hari smiled as he lifted his cup to his lips and drank the warm, potent liquid. It felt good as it burned a trail down his throat and settled in his stomach. He sipped on a cold glass of water to wash the taste of sake from his mouth. While he enjoyed the feeling of drinking rice wine, he'd never found the taste appealing.

Hanako, on the other hand, smiled brightly as she licked her lips. When they went out it was usually Hari's task to make sure she never drank too much. Being a shinobi of the leaf afforded them all the privileges of adults, and ever since the loss of their teammate, both of them had been more open to exploring those options. While Hari had been only tolerant of alcohol, Hanako loved it. The fact that she had inherited some of her father's skill with drunken fighting only made it more important that Hari look after her when she chose to drink.

Fortunately Hanako had become better at cutting herself off, which made their nights out less stressful for him. He was taking another sip of water when he and Hanako were pulled into a group hug from behind. "Hari, Hanako! How are my two favorite genin doing?"

Hari twisted to face Konohamaru, his large, red facial tattoos raised up with his cheeks to make a comical grin. The Inuzuka facial tattoos never had quite the right effect on the happy jounin. "Konohamaru! I thought you took on your own genin team. You can't let them hear you say things like that!"

Konohamaru laughed. "Let them hear it! Those kids still have a ways to go, maybe you could help me light a fire under them."

Hanako grinned at the older ninja. "I haven't seen Kiba-san around. Is he going to be able to make it?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "He said he would, but Akamaru has a stomach virus so I'm not sure when he'll show up."

Hari nodded. "Tell Akamaru I wish him well. If I get a chance, I'll stop by before I have to go."

Konohamaru brightened. "He'd love that. Speaking of which..." He reached into his flak vest and withdrew a small orange book. "Kiba and I got this for your trip."

Hari blushed and Hanako's eyes narrowed. "I can't believe it. You two got him one of Kakashi-sensei's pervy books?"

"Hanako, this book will be great for Hari's mission." He flipped it open so Hari could read it. Instead of dirty pictures, it had details about sealing techniques.

Hari grabbed the book and began reading over it quickly. "Oh, wow, this is amazing Konohamaru. Thank you so much!"

"Uzumaki Hari!" Hari turned to face a furious Hanako. "I can't believe you would read that junk!"

Before she could continue, Hari flipped the book around so she could see it. "It's not what you think! See?"

Hanako squinted as she read a few lines before glaring at Konohamaru, who was now bent over laughing. "Ha ha ha, that was absolutely worth it. You are just like your mother, Hanako-chan."

Hanako blushed bright red as she crossed her arms across her chest. Konohamaru mussed Hari's hair before heading back to the rest of the party. Hari set the book to the side and grinned. "You have to admit, that was pretty funny."

Hanako let out a haughty grunt. Hari picked a couple pieces of barbeque from the grill and placed then on his plate, eating slowly while his friend calmed down. Hari waved at Shikamaru as he walked in to the party. He'd spent the past week working out all the details of the mission with him. The two of them had spent the last month reading through the various books Hari had purchased at Flourish and Blotts. Most enlightening was Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts which dedicated several chapters to Voldemort. It appeared that, a bit over a decade ago, he rallied his followers around a cause of pureblood supremacy. Things appeared to be going well for them, until one night, the Dark Lord's body was found slain within the confines of Godric's Hollow, the safe house that he and his parents were holed up in. The whole story was full of gaps, and the text acknowledged that very little was known about that night. There was an entire chapter dedicated to theories about both his and Voldemort's fate.

Hari's personal favorite had been that he was actually the offspring of a dark creature known as a Dementor, and he'd sucked Voldemort's soul out before fleeing from the scene. It was not a well-respected theory, but none of the other theories made much more sense.

Still, based on what he'd said, it seemed like the boy he met in the clothing store might be somehow related to a follower or sympathizer of Voldemort. The two of them had discussed trying to infiltrate the group, but given Harry Potter's upstanding muggle guardians and the Death Eaters disdain for muggles, the plan was scuttled. They discussed changing that part of his back story, but Hari wasn't willing to give up his bi-annual vacations back to Konoha.

Hari stood up from his chair to greet his handler when the sound of a throat clearing froze him in place. He turned to see Nara Temari standing a few feet behind him, her arms folded across her ample bosom. She stared at him imperiously. He spared a glance to his teammate who was frantically signalling that this wasn't her fault. He turned back and spoke up. "Er, good evening, Temari-san. Can I help you?"

"I overheard some interesting rumors concerning you and I." She let the statement hang in the air.

Hari gulped. While he had only recently discovered just how sexy Temari was, he had long been aware of just how dangerous she was. "Err.." He cursed his hesitation. "I am not sure who you heard what from Temari-san, but I assure you I would never speak ill of you in any way."

She smirked triumphantly at him. "I didn't mention anything about disparaging remarks, Hari-kun. And I wouldn't consider it disparaging." She relaxed from her aggressive stance. She reached out and mussed his hair. "I just wanted to remind you that while I might be a sexy kunoichi, I'm also a dangerous kunoichi."

Hari bowed deeply. "Temari-san, trust me, just how dangerous you are has never left my mind." He blushed with embarrassment at the whole situation.

Temari nodded in satisfaction. "I also came by to wish you well on your mission. I'm going to miss your antics, Hari-kun. Good luck." She leaned over and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek which brought his blush back.

The party carried on with Hari and Hanako celebrating with various friends. He stiffened when he noticed Tenten and Shino in a corner speaking with his mother. He watched as she bowed politely and made her way over to him. He felt a hand squeeze his and turned to Hanako who spoke a soft encouragement. "They don't blame you, Hari. No one does."

He nodded dumbly as his mother leaned over him. "Shino-san and Tenten-san wanted to wish you well on your mission." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think it would be good for you to talk to them."

Hari looked to Hanako for support. "It's a good idea, Hari. They just want to be a part of your life. They really liked you when..." She trailed off.

Hari looked back to Tenten and Shino and nodded. He stood up and made his way over to the two. They both seemed surprised. "Shino-san, Tenten-san, thank you for coming tonight. It is good to see you."

Tenten looked to her husband before speaking. "I'm glad we could come, Hari-kun. It sounds like you've got an exciting assignment. Rumors are already circling around the village."

Hari took a deep breath. He tried to put on a happy face but failed miserably. He was beginning to panic when Shino stepped forward. "It is clear that you still feel guilt over the death of Shidan." Hari winced. "This is illogical. Why? Because you did not kill our son, Orochimaru did."

Hari bowed low. "I know. I know that it's not my fault. It's just..." Hari seemed to be at a loss for words.

"There is a real difference between knowing and feeling." Tenten spoke warmly as tears formed in her eyes. "We took the news... badly, and we pushed both you and Hanako-chan away. And we're sorry for that. I want you to know that we love both of you, and we're so grateful that Shidan had such amazing friends as you two."

Hari bowed deeply to the two parents. "It means a great deal to hear that from you both." He felt some of the oppressive weight he'd been feeling leave his body.

"Shidan would be excited to see you go on this mission. Why? Because it is a chance to prove yourself, and my son had every confidence in you." Shino bowed to Hari.

Hari invited them to join Hanako and him at the head of the main table. The four spent the next few hours catching up on each other's lives. Hari had missed both of them, and talking to them about their lives was a balm. Even Shino seemed to relax as they passed the sake around. Their conversation turned to Shidan, and the group was soon sharing a drink that was long overdue.

It was late into the night, and Hanako and Hari were sitting on the floor laughing about a time when Shidan had managed to create a distraction with a single kikai bug in the middle of a pack of schoolchildren. A clearing of the throat drew their attention to Hanabi Hyuuga standing over top of them. Hari stood up uneasily in front of his aloof aunt and bowed. The alcohol had affected him more than he had realized, while he was sitting against the wall. "G-good evening, Hanabi-oba-san. I was unaware you'd shown up to the party."

"You did not think I would allow my favorite nephew to leave on an extended mission without seeing him off." Her tone was even and her face expressionless. "Hanako, it is getting late, perhaps you should be heading home."

Hanako had a bright red blush on each cheek as she stood. She turned to Hari and drew him into a violent hug. "Hari-kun, you'd better write at least every week."

"I promise, Hanako-chan." He was a bit uncomfortable having this awkward emotional moment in front of his largely emotionless aunt.

"Things are gonna be so dull around here."

"I'm sure you'll find someone else to cause mayhem with."

She hiccuped. "You be safe out there. I'm not going to be around to save you, idiot."

Hari chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'll be careful, Hanako-chan."

She gave him one last squeeze before letting go. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you too."

"Goodbye, Hari-kun."

"Goodbye, Hanako-chan."

Hanako walked away from them, turning back to give him one last wave.

Hanabi watched the whole scene impassively. Her Byakugan was activated as Hanako left. "She's gone." Hanabi quickly wrapped her arms around Hari. His aunt was restrained and private. She was not comfortable with anyone viewing her displays of affection, which made them quite rare. He wrapped his arms around her. She kissed his forehead gently. "You become a more impressive man every day. You will do outstanding on this mission. I have every confidence in you." Her voice was hushed as she spoke.

He nodded against her shoulder. "Thank you, Hanabi-oba-san."

"And you had best be sure that you don't fall for some stupid trap and bring shame onto me and your mother, you hear me?"

He laughed lightly. "Yes Hanabi-obaa-san."

She kissed him again on the forehead. "Now, you should get to bed, Hari-kun. You have a long day ahead of you." She guided the young boy to his room and tucked him in. "Good night, Hari-kun."

His eyes were already closing when he murmured a good night to his favorite aunt.

* * *

Hari walked up to the busy train station and looked back down at his Hogwarts letter. He could see platform nine, and platform ten, but there was no platform nine and three-quarters. He sipped on some water out of a small bottle. He was suffering a minor headache, that he had woken up with, due to dehydration. Apparently, he had forgotten to keep drinking water with his sake when Shino and Tenten joined their table, and he was dealing with the hangover that accompanied that. He took in the entire platform from a bench, trying to figure out this puzzle.

He was working on a theory that the column between platforms nine and ten had some sort of magic to it, since there were families congregated around all the other columns, when he saw a family of redheads approach the column. He looked up at the clock and noticed that he only had about twenty minutes until the train was leaving, which would be an incredibly embarrassing way to fail a mission.

Then he watched as one of the redheads walked straight through the column.

It was certainly an ingenious way to hide something, and he was going to need to remember that magic was actually quite impressive. He waited for the whole family to make it through before approaching the column with his luggage. He mentally prepared himself for the embarrassment of running headlong into a stone wall. He got himself up to speed, as he and his luggage pushed through the stone column and appeared on a hidden platform numbered nine and three-quarters. Surrounding him was a crowd witches and wizards preparing to send their children to Hogwarts.

He made his way past the other students to get a nice, empty cabin he could rest in for the train ride to Hogwarts. He hung the cage of his owl, Hedwig, from an unadorned hook. He then tucked his luggage away within the corner of the compartment and closed the door before sitting down on the bench. He felt his eyes droop as the comfortable seat encouraged him to sleep. Making sure no one was around, he quickly summoned Hebisoka. She slid up his sleeve and wrapped around his arm. _"Good morning, Hari-kun. Why have you called me here?"_

Hari pushed himself further into the padding of the chair. He hissed quietly at the snake. _"I need to rest some, and I was hoping you'd be my lookout."_

The snake crawled up his arm and poked its head out the neck of his shirt. She quickly flicked her tongue out at him. _"You were up late drinking? Before a mission? What would Iruka say?_" Hedwig barked disapprovingly.

He groaned as the snake and owl ganged up on him. _"He doesn't have much room to talk, since he shared several cups with me."_ His eyes closed as he took another drink of water._ "Will you watch out for me?"_

He could hear the serpent sigh as she ran back down his sleeve._ "Of course, I'll look out for you. Next time you should avoid putting yourself in these situations."_

He yawned as he closed his eyes and let sleep fall over him. _"Just wake me if anyone comes in."_ Hari felt his head pitch against the window of the train and soon was fast asleep.

He felt a sharp pinch and tight squeeze as Hebisoka bit into his arm. He let out a small yelp as he was abruptly awakened. The first thing he noticed was that the train was in motion, the countryside racing by outside the window. The next thing he noticed was a pair of boys outside his compartment, fiddling with the latch. He sat up in his chair as the door opened.

There was a thin, redheaded boy who he'd seen enter the nine and three-quarters column standing next to a pudgy, brown-haired boy. The brunette spoke with a nervous tone. "Er, sorry to disturb you. You haven't seen a missing toad around here, have you? I can't find Trevor anywhere."

Hari shook his head no. He was grateful that someone else recognized the value of toads. He liked his owl, and he had to admit she was incredibly good at delivering mail, but it was hard to top toads in his opinion. "Sorry, I haven't seen him. If I find him, I'll let you know."

The two boys nodded before heading away. Hari hissed quietly. _"Up for finding a lost toad?"_

Hebisoka shifted under his robes. _"Why do you care?"_

_"It's always good to make a good first impression. Besides, I like toads."_

He heard a rather undignified noise come from the serpent. _"Fine. Let's go find your precious little toad."_

Hari crept out of his compartment and made his way down the train. He felt Hebisoka squeeze his arm, letting him know where to look for the missing amphibian. He noticed the toad huddled in a corner by an air vent. It looked rather sluggish, but quickly perked up when Hari picked it up. Hari snatched a few flies as they buzzed around, and fed them to the tired toad. He quietly returned to his compartment before turning to the toad. It seemed much more active after resting in his hand. "You were awfully cold, weren't you, little guy?" He toad seemed to look up at him. "Can you understand what I'm saying?" The toad continued to look at Hari. "Can you talk?"

_"People are going to think you are crazy if they see you talking to a toad."_

Hari rolled his eyes. _"And how would they react to me talking to a snake?"_

_"Most likely with awe that one of us would lower ourselves to converse with your kind."_

The toad hopped out of his hand and was soon hopping around the compartment, occasionally cozying against Hari in search of warmth. Between the toad, the snake and the owl, the small compartment was beginning to feel like something of a menagerie.

Hari's musings were interrupted when a short, bushy-haired, brunette with a prominent overbite flung open his compartment door. "Have you seen a-" Her gaze fixated on the toad hopping around Hari. "Is that Neville's toad, Trevor?"

Hari nodded. "It is. Some boys just stopped by asking if I'd seen him, so I decided to go looking."

The girl turned her attention to him. "Then you should've gone to find them, rather than sitting here. Neville's quite worried the toad hopped off at King's Cross." She turned to the left and yelled down the train. "Ron! Neville! I've found him." Hari was vaguely amused by the imposing girl. She turned to face him, and her eyes widened as the two boys from earlier walked up behind her. "Oh! You're Harry Potter!"

Hari evaluated the girl carefully. He knew that his persona was somewhat famous, but given that he had disappeared at age one he was unsure how she'd determined his identity. "What makes you think that?"

"I read all about you in _Modern Magical History_, _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_, and there was an article in the _Daily Prophet_ about your arrival in Diagon Alley on your birthday. It said you were a short-haired boy with a lightning shaped scar and funny-looking goggles. You fit the description, which is how I knew you were Harry Potter." She counted each item with her fingers. "Oh, and you didn't deny being Harry Potter, which you would've if I was wrong."

Hari bit at his lip. Someone doing that much operational research about him usually meant another agent trying to get a leg up on him. The two boys were both staring intently at the scar on his forehead but stayed quiet. He thought he saw the redhead mutter something but couldn't make it out. "You've sure done a lot of reading about me." He cursed the hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Oh, I've done a lot of reading about everything. I've read all of our course books over the summer, and I know them all by heart now. I do hope that it will be enough for me to get through all of the courses, because I'm the first magical person in my family, and this whole affair has been quite disorienting, not to say I'm upset to be going to Hogwarts though, being that it is the best school of witchcraft."

Hari processed her rapid explanation with a curious face. If this girl wasn't exaggerating, she'd already consumed seven weighty tomes and possessed an eidetic memory. The boys behind her seemed to be glancing at each other nervously. "I've read a bit myself. That's where I got the name Hedwig for my owl."

The bushy-haired girl shifted to face the snowy owl. "Oh, she's so beautiful. And Hedwig? You named her after the witch who started a war in order to steal Merlin's staff from Gringotts? Why?"

Hari grinned. This girl could be a very useful asset to him. "I thought it was a neat story. And I liked the name. Speaking of names, you know mine, but I don't know yours."

The girl pinked. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'm Hermione Granger. And you know Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley."

He didn't bother correcting her assumptions. He smiled and nodded to the two. The toad hopped from the ground up to Neville. "Nice to meet you three!" He turned to Neville. "By the way, I found your toad next to an air vent. Toads need to stay warm enough or else they become very sluggish. It likely wandered off looking for some way to warm up."

Neville seemed to be about to say something when Hermione cut him off. "Oh, of course, how silly of me! Toads are cold-blooded creatures, so I suppose this train is a very difficult environment for them." She smiled brightly. "You must've really enjoyed studying biology at your muggle school."

Hari suppressed a grin at how cowed the two boys were. "Why don't you three come sit down? Plenty of room in this compartment for us to all sit."

Neville was about to speak again, when Ron butted in. "I left my luggage in the other compartment. No one's looking after it right now, and I should really make sure nothing happens to it."

Hermione spoke up again. "Well there's room in that compartment, right? Harry could just accompany us back to our compartment with his luggage."

Ron looked a bit uneasy at her declaration. Before he could say anything, Neville spoke in a fast quiet tone. "That would be fine."

Hari smiled and stood up. "That sounds great to me. Let me just get my luggage."

Hermione had offered to carry Hedwig's cage as they walked down the train. The others showed a bit of trouble walking on the unstable floor of the fast moving train, but they were able to reach the compartment quickly. Hari had placed his luggage away, when he turned to see Hermione gently petting the owl through the bars of her cage. He chose a seat next to the door so Hermione could sit next to Hedwig.

Once he was situated, Ron spoke up. "So Harry, do you remember anything about You-Know-What?"

Hari jerked his head up. That was what Hagrid had called the red rock. How did this boy know about that? "Err, what?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I think he means the night that Voldemort attacked you."

This drew shudders from both boys on the opposite bench. Ron spoke quickly. "Don't say his name!"

Hermione seemed surprised while Hari was intrigued. "Why shouldn't she say his name?"

"You just don't. Everyone's terrified of it. It's not polite to say his name. Gives people the willies."

Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know! Everything I know about him is from the books I've read. He seemed like a really terrible person."

Hari shrugged. "I don't really remember anything from that night." He understood the reasoning behind the taboo. If he could forget that Orochimaru existed, he'd probably sleep better at night too. That just meant that Voldemort had scarred this world more than he knew. He probably should've pushed for a better mission rate in that case. Extended C-rank pay was great, but he probably could have pushed for B, or maybe A-rank, pay from the client.

Hari noticed Trevor watching a fly flit about overhead. He snatched the fly out of the air and held it close to the toad. With a casual flick of its tongue, Trevor gobbled the fly down. Neville's eyes widened and Ron grinned. "Blimey mate, that was amazing."

Hermione smiled at him. "You really are good with animals."

Hari chuckled as Hedwig let out a short bark. "Not all animals. I just really like toads."

Hermione looked back to Hedwig with a confused expression. "Then why did you get an owl and not a toad? Not that I don't think you aren't a beautiful owl." Hedwig let out another bark.

Hari rolled his eyes. "A friend of mine got me Hedwig for my birthday. He said that toads weren't in style, so he got me an owl."

Ron nodded sagely. "He's right, ya know. Toads haven't been fashionable in years. No offense mate, but if I were you, I'd have conveniently lost Trevor."

"My gran got him for me as a present. She's… not up to date on the latest trends." Neville spoke in a soft sad voice.

"Ronald! I can't believe you would be so insensitive as to suggest such a thing. Trevor is a lovely familiar, Neville. Isn't that right, Harry?"

Hari smirked. The girl knew how to win an argument. "I believe I already mentioned that I prefer toads myself. Although, personally, I think snakes are the best." He got a happy hug from Hebisoka at that comment.

"Snakes? Don't tell me you're a Slytherin!" Ron seemed offended by the thought.

"Slytherin? What's that?"

Hermione butted in. "Oh! I read all about this in _Hogwarts, A History_; Slytherin is one of the four houses that you can join. Many great wizards have come from all of the houses, but Slytherin was where Vol- sorry, You-Know-Who came from. He also recruited most of his followers from there as well. Personally I'm hoping to be in Gryffindor, since that's where Professor Dumbledore is from. I suppose Ravenclaw would be fine as well, but I just can't wait to meet Professor Dumbledore. There's so much that's been written about him."

Hari's mind swam as he tried to tuck all of those little details away. "Right. I'm not sure what house I am. When do I have to decide?"

Neville spoke up. "You don't decide. There's some sort of test that determines where you go."

"My brothers say that you have to wrestle a troll, but I think they're pranking me."

"That's patently absurd. Of course they wouldn't have first years wrestle a troll."

The door slid open revealing three young boys, two of which were taller than Hari by a few inches, and extremely bulky. The other boy was the creep Hari had met at the clothiers. He seemed to be the leader of the group as he spoke in the same lazy drawl. "I suppose they could just have us wrestle you, Mudblood. You look rather trollish yourself."

Hari noticed that Hermione flinched and immediately deflated. Ron sneered at the boy. "You shut your gob, Malfoy."

"Malfoy", Hari supposed, ignored Ron. "I was told Harry Potter was aboard." He looked down at Hari. "Ah, you must be him. I am Draco Malfoy, and these are my friends, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe. We've met before. You were with me at Madam Malkin's." Hari nodded slowly. "I'm here to offer you my services. You must understand that I had no idea who you were, but there are many people in this world who would try to elevate themselves by associating with our kind. I can already see some of the bottom-feeders are trying to leech off of you." He looked back and forth between Ron and Hermione.

Ron growled. "Bottom-feeders? At least my father wasn't a filthy Death Eater." Hermione's eyes seemed to fill with fright at that.

"You must be addled. My father was bewitched by the Dark Lord. He's innocent of any crime." The boy grinned at Ron. "Not that your father would ever rate such attention. The Weasleys are an unimportant family of redheads with more children than money." Ron's concern for his possessions suddenly made more sense to Hari. Draco turned to Hermione. "And look, a Mudblood has decided to latch on to the good Potter name and hope for a handout. What a surprise." The boy turned back to Hari. "This is why you need me. I can help you know who is safe to associate with."

It was very tempting to Hari. He knew that he could gain the boy's trust, manipulate him into betraying his father, maybe learn the location of Voldemort and get this mission over with ahead of schedule. Of course, that would require Hari to willfully subject himself to the blonde ponce, which was a level of masochism Hari didn't subscribe to. He stood up from his seat and Hermione looked at him with terrified eyes. "You are right, Malfoy." He heard all three kids in the cabin gasp as Malfoy grinned. Hari stepped towards him, and Malfoy stepped back out of the cabin. "I clearly need to take care who I associate with." With that, Hari slammed the cabin door close. With a quick motion he locked the door. He turned to his companions with a grin on his face. "God, that felt good."

All three were staring at him with a look of awe. Ron spoke first. "Bloody hell, that was awesome, mate!"

Hermione was jarred from her stupor, and she glared at Ron. "Language, Ron!"

Neville laughed and Ron blushed as Hari sat back down in his seat. After a few more minutes spent chatting with the group, an older witch knocked at the door informing them that the train was getting close to Hogsmeade, and they should get changed into their school robes. Hermione pinked and excused herself back to her original compartment.

Ron let out a breath. "Merlin, I thought she'd never leave." Hari and Neville turned to him. "I hope she's not in our house."

Neville spoke nervously, "I don't know. She helped me find my toad, Trevor."

"Maybe, but after that she was a bossy know-it-all."

Hari chuckled as he pulled his school robes from his luggage. "She is very forceful."

"Too right, mate." Ron quickly pulled his robe over his clothes.

A moment later the train stopped, and the three boys gathered their bags and made the way off the train.

* * *

Annnnnd done! Sorry for the delay, you can blame me spending a week away followed by me being very lazy.

However, it was delayed a couple days for good reasons! Mon Esprit Libre has graciously agreed to pre-read my story. She found 73 commas and 11 hyphens. So if you noticed that I'm suddenly not incompetent at grammar, spelling, and punctuation, it's thanks to her.

Thank you so much for reading, and a special thanks to all of you who've favorited, followed, and especially reviewed this story. I hope you continue to enjoy what I've got.

And as always, toss me a review, let me know what you liked, what you hated, how much you like my stylish' Commander Keen avatar (got that one last time). Or if you need something more specific, tell me what you think about Draco, Hermione, Ronald or Neville and Hari's reaction to them.

Until next time!


	4. A Suspicious Sorting

Disclaimer - I don't really like the legal disclaimers most Fanfictions tack on the beginning of chapters, but I am more than willing to observe tradition.

**Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts  
**A Suspicious Sorting

_"Segregation has no place in the education system" -Richard Dawkins_

Hari exited the train behind Ron and Neville. He was happy to finally be able to wear his modified school robes. The thin layer of wire mesh sewn into the fabric provided him with at least a minor amount of protection. He immediately noticed Hagrid a short distance from the train corralling the first year students. The three of them made their way over to the group of students congregated around the giant. Hari saw the willful girl chatting amicably with a pair of uncomfortable-looking first year girls. He heard Ron mumble, "Looks like she got her hooks into those girls. Lucky break for us."

Hari rolled his eyes at the boy's comment, but he refrained from providing his own. Hagrid led the group of children towards boats docked on the shore. Hari looked up to watch the clouds going by slowly. At least this world included the same beautiful blue and white skies he was familiar with from home. He could spend all day watching the clouds go by. "Oi, mate! You gonna join us or what?" Ron's interruption brought him back to the present and he quickly took a seat in the back of the boat. He was looking for a means of propelling the boat when it magically began to move along the lake's surface. He went back to watching clouds, when a sharp gasp from Neville and Ron drew his attention to the massive stone fortress that came into view.

It was twice as tall as the Hokage tower, and far broader. It seemed to be situated in a very defensible location: upon a cliff, surrounded by a lake. Hari spotted the castle's main entrance, which terminated at the end of a long, winding road from the Hogsmeade village. Along the road, he saw lines of carriages pulled by gaunt, winged, skeletal horses. He flinched as one of the horses turned its piercing, red eyes in his direction. The creature seemed to stare across the great distance. Hari felt his skin crawl. He quickly turned to face forward.

In the distance was an overhang of vines that they would be passing under. There was a path that lead towards the front door from the side of the castle that Hari assumed connected via a passage through the vines. He was contemplating the best method to assault the castle when a squeeze from Hebisoka signaled something was amiss. Following her signal, Hari leaned over the boat and let his fingers brush along the black water. Hebisoka squirmed her head out his sleeve, resting in the palm of his hand. She quickly retracted back into the safety of Hari's sleeve. He resolved to chat with her later, away from any prying ears.

The boats passed through the wall of vines and pushed up against a rocky beach. Hari exited the boat after Neville and Ron while noting the numerous windows lining the walls of the castle. The front door was well-positioned at the end of long open road, giving defenders ample time to pick off any invaders, but the numerous windows all seemed like serious security flaws in the castle's design. The beachhead at the base of the cliff, which allowed for an amphibious assault, seemed like a particularly glaring problem. His musing was cut off as the group of first years reached the front entrance.

The double doors opened partially to reveal a stern, elderly woman in long, flowing green robes. She looked over the group imperiously while Hagrid announced their purpose. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

"Very good, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pushed the doors open wide, revealing an immense entry hall. Hari felt his hackles rise as he walked in. His currently-forming Hogwarts Assault Plan included never, ever entering by the front door. The hall was almost certainly magical in some way, as Hari could not physically tell how tall the room was, but he could see at least three stories worth of wall. He estimated he could fit at least a thousand defenders behind cover scattered all throughout the room at varying elevations. He felt like he was walking through a deathtrap as he crossed the room amidst the gaggle of awestruck children.

Professor McGonagall led the students into a side room, where they were squished together. He looked around the room to get an idea of the classmates he was dealing with. None of them seemed to be any sort of threat, but was always good to dig deeper on some of the more suspicious ones. He listened idly as the stern witch explained in detail the various houses of Hogwarts and the system used to reward success or punish troublemakers. "At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor." Hari snorted. The idea was sound in concept; it provided a structure to encourage students to encourage good behavior and discourage bad behavior, reducing the disciplinary incidents. The reward, however, being something as intangible as a honor, or bragging rights, reduced its effectiveness.

Unfortunately for Hari, his snort did not escape notice. Hermione snapped her head in his direction, and Professor McGonagall stared intently at him as she spoke in a strained voice. "I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school." Her glare lingered on Hari for another moment before she turned and left the room. She certainly didn't appreciate his outburst.

Hermione squeezed through the throng of students to stand next to him. "You really should treat her with respect. She's the Deputy Headmistress and a Master of Transfiguration, you know."

Hari fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Thanks Hermione," he replied sarcastically. Her eye twitched before she turned her back to him. This time he did roll his eyes as he heard her start to recite various facts to herself. The rest of the students were buzzing about what the test could involve. It appeared that the rumor of troll wrestling had spread further than just Ron, but Hari could spot the signs of a prank in progress. Hari fidgeted within his robes. He was nervously fingering his hidden kunai when he felt the temperature of the room drop several degrees. He loosened his kunai from its holster and pressed it against his wrist while Hebisoka coiled to strike, when over a dozen white translucent spirits ascended from the floor. He pushed his way past the other students to elude the terrifying apparitions. His father had always impressed upon him just how scary ghosts were. Anything that scared his father, the most powerful man in the world and Hokage of Konoha, was worthy his fear and respect.

The ghosts were discussing something among themselves while Hari shouted a warning to the other students. The room was soon full of panicking eleven-year-olds, and the situation was beginning to deteriorate when a large and foppish ghost, stained crimson with blood, floated above the children and spoke in a booming voice. "Calm down, you children!"

The children in the room froze as they stared at the terrifying visage of a bloody ghost shouting at them. A portly ghost wearing a sackcloth robe floated up up next to the bloodied apparition. "Yes, well, relax now, Baron." He turned to address the crowd. "Ah, you must be the new first years. About to be sorted, yes? I apologize for my friend's unpleasant disposition. There's no need to be frightened, we're not here to harm you. You can relax, children." The large ghost seemed to placate the crowd. "I'm known as the Fat Friar, and I was a Hufflepuff many years ago. I hope to see quite a few of you bright children in my house."

Professor McGonagall re-entered the room with a scowl on her face. "Settle down, children." She turned to look up at the ghosts. "You lot can go now. The Sorting is about to begin." The ghosts scurried upwards through the ceiling. "Now, form a line, children." The mess of kids slowly converged into a single file line.

They filed into a massive open hall, with lines of large tables that seated the rest of the student population. Against the far wall was a tall table where the staff sat. When Hari looked up, he noticed the ceiling appeared to be absent, exposing the night sky to them. However, the room lacked the crisp night air he would have expected from an open room, which caused him to suspect magic was involved. He was trying to puzzle out the phenomenon when an old, tattered hat sitting on a short stool sprang to life. Hari looked on as it sang a song about itself and the various houses of Hogwarts.

Hari frowned when it mentioned that it could see into their minds. Shikamaru had warned him that there were people here that would be able to read minds, so he'd been practicing with his father's seals to prevent such occurrences. The song ended and students were called forward in alphabetical order. He began channeling chakra into the seal structure while the other students were sorted. It was only a few minutes before he heard McGonagall loudly exclaim, "Potter, Harry!"

He walked up to the stool and picked up the hat, placing it on his head. The hat spoke in low tones that he could only barely make out. "Now then, let's see what's in your head. Hrm, strange, you don't seem to be much of a wizard." Hari sent more chakra into the seals. "Then why are you here? Oh, an assassin... from another world." Hari ripped the hat from his head and set it over his hand, which now held a kunai against the hat's inside. The hat's eyes widened as the room erupted in a flurry of murmurs and whispers.

McGonagall stepped forward. "Mr. Potter, return the hat to your head this instant."

The hat spoke in a loud voice. "Relax, Professor. It seems I spooked young Mr. Potter a bit. I have seen all I need to sort him, though." Hari turned to see the elderly witch relax and return to her post by the other first years. The hat spoke in a low tone. "It's been some time since a student has so brazenly threatened me, Mr. Potter- or I suppose Uzumaki is more appropriate."

Hari spoke in a soft tone. "You have had access to secrets that you shouldn't. I should silence you for knowing them." He pressed the knife a bit tighter against the fabric.

The hat grinned. "But you wouldn't want to sacrifice the mission, would you, Mr. Uzumaki? That would be quite disappointing, I imagine." The hat grinned. "Your secrets are safe with me. I'm just here to sort you, not pass judgement. Now, where shall I put you?"

Hari's eyes narrowed. "I couldn't care less. If I do discover you've been leaking my secrets, I will kill you. You should have seen well enough into my head to know I can."

The hat paused. "As I said, I won't be telling anyone your secrets. Now, this little display shows an amazing amount of bravery and cunning. Either Gryffindor or Slytherin would do well to have you. What do you think? Gryffindor or Slytherin? Either of those work for you."

Hari gritted his teeth. He wanted this to be over with. "I don't care, either of those work for me. Pick."

The hat chuckled. "No, I have seen what you want, Uzumaki Hari. You are here to kill a dangerous man and learn all you can about this world. You desire knowledge, as much as you can get your hands on. As that is the case, there can only be one house for you." The hat raised its voice. "RAVENCLAW!"

There was a smattering of applause as Hari tossed the hat to the stool and made his way over to the Ravenclaw table. Most of the students at the table were staring at him, and he felt his cheeks burn. Just as he was mentally preparing for the awkward attention his Sorting had garnered, an older girl leaned out from the crowd and waved him over to a seat next to her.

Grateful for the distraction, he dashed over and took a seat beside her.

* * *

Penelope Clearwater watched the awkward scene unfold between Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat. The boy was clearly spooked by the hat's magic, which she could relate to. When she was a first year, she'd been likewise creeped out by the hat. It was able to see the hours she spent avoiding her friends to hide in the library and placed her in Ravenclaw. Being a private person, having someone she'd just met know such an awkward secret of hers creeped her out. She spent the first couple of years living as an awkward loner. It was only recently that things had turned around for her. Now she was a prefect with loads of friends, and a boy that she'd spent several Hogsmeade weekends with, a summer of correspondence, and a rather heated reunion in the prefect's carriage on their way to castle. Her eyes tracked to Percy Weasley, whose eyes caught hers across the Great Hall. While things were going well for her now, she knew what it was like being the loner who was scared of magic, so she leaned out and waved the young, awkward boy over to her bench.

She smiled warmly at the young dark haired boy as he sat down. The boy spoke in a soft tone. "Thank you."

Penelope nodded. "You're welcome. I'm Penelope Clearwater."

Harry smiled. "Good to meet ya, Penelope. I'm Harry Potter."

"I heard. Welcome to Ravenclaw, Harry. We should really pay attention to the Sorting. Just be sure to cheer when anyone gets sorted, especially the ones sorted to Ravenclaw."

He nodded as they both turned their attention back to the Sorting. Percy's brother was sorted to Gryffindor the moment the hat touched his head, which she cheered loudly for. She knew Percy worried about his youngest brother, and was glad that the boy would be in his house. She noticed Harry was looking across the way to the Gryffindor table as well. She blushed slightly when she realized she had been gazing off at Percy again, and Hari had followed her gaze. He twitched his head to her, and wore a sly grin. She blushed even harder as he released his focus from her and began cheering the last of the students being sorted.

She took a few breaths as she got her expressions in order before the oddly perceptive boy noticed anything else. The Headmaster had just finished his nonsensical opening words when the food appeared at the tables. She loaded her plate up with some chicken, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, and gravy. She looked over to see Harry looking back and forth at the various dishes. "You sure do like your meat here," he said in a dry drawl.

She realized that most of the table was taken up by various types of meat. "I suppose. I really like the roast potatoes though, or the mash when they serve it."

The young boy stared up at her with a questioning look. "They don't serve rice, do they? I can get by on rice."

"I don't think so. Sometimes they serve a rice pilaf." He was now looking down at the utensils in front of him. He picked up the steak knife and pressed the blade against his finger. "Careful! Those are sharp."

The boy snorted lightly. "Are they expecting a fight to break out?"

A first year named Michael Corner laughed from across the table. "Are you thick, Potter? You use that to cut your meat."

Harry blushed, and looked around the table, watching the kids eat. "Oh, I suppose that's why the pieces are so big." He picked up a fork and awkwardly gripped at it.

"What's the matter? Not used to eating with proper utensils?" Michael snorted. "Did you eat everything with your hands?" There were a couple chuckles from other first year students.

Penelope frowned. "Michael Corner, you may be new to the Ravenclaw house, but we treat our fellow members with respect. Do you understand me?" She made sure she straightened her prefect badge. The boy seemed sufficiently cowed as some of his neighbors sniggered at him.

Harry was looking down at his still empty plate. He spoke in a voice just above a whisper. "You don't need to defend me." She frowned, thinking she might have bruised his fragile male ego. "But thank you for doing so." Or perhaps not.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. He poked at a few pieces of steak before placing a rather undercooked piece on his plate, and loaded the rest up with a few roast potatoes, carrots and peas. He finally took a yorkshire pudding and covered it in gravy before setting in on his plate. It was painfully obvious he wasn't used to British cuisine. "How is it?"

He looked up at her and frowned. "Different. Eating with a fork is weird. Everything tastes a bit like metal." He took a bit of carrots and made a face. "And these vegetables are so soft. I like the crunch of vegetables."

She nodded slowly. "I guess this is what we normally eat. What do you normally eat?" She took a bite of her food while he formulated an answer in his mind.

"I like ramen."

"Ramen? What's that?"

She was treated to truly horrified look bloom across his face. "Uh, ramen. You know? Broth, noodles, pork."

She shrugged. "I've never heard of it. Is it good?"

The boy deflated as he cut another bite off of his steak. "Yeah. It's fantastic." He sounded defeated. Before he could continue, the Headmaster interrupted them with standard remarks. Penelope continued to eat her dinner when his final declaration about the third floor corridor made her pause. She was not sure why the Professor has placed it out-of-bounds, but, while he was an odd man, he rarely would over-exaggerate the danger of a situation. She looked down to see Hari smirking. "Don't you even think about it."

Hari winced like he was struck. He swallowed the bite he was chewing on and looked up at her with confusion. "Err, think about what?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I saw that smirk. You were thinking about breaking into the third floor. Don't. Professor Dumbledore does not make such declarations lightly."

He shook his head. "No, I wasn't thinking of that. I… wasn't really paying attention to him." He cast his eyes off to the side. "I was... thinking about something else." His eyes flitted in the direction of Michael Corner.

She sighed. Starting a fight with a first year wasn't much better, but it was more understandable. She leaned down and whispered harshly. "You will leave any punishments for infractions to me. Understand?" She straightened up as the main course was replaced by a large variety of sweet desserts.

"Got it. Sorry." He blushed, and went back to eating. They finished their meal in peace before she led him and his fellow first years up to their new homes in Ravenclaw Tower.

* * *

Hari lay in his bed while he considered the days events. Hermione, Ron and Neville, the children from his train ride, were now all together in Gryffindor, away from him. Most of his peers in Ravenclaw seemed cold towards him after his awkward displays during the Sorting and subsequent feast. Penelope had been the bright spot of the evening. She'd taken pity on him at first, but he managed to build a rapport over dinner. It would be helpful to have her as an asset, given her prefect status, but he also realized that he felt indebted to her for looking after him. He resolved to return the favor.

The trip to the Ravenclaw Tower was a maze of winding, twisting passages that seemed to shift and repeat themselves. They went to the third floor, then down to the second, and from there they took a passage that led them to the fifth floor. Hari wasn't entirely sure how that last one worked. At the base of the tower was a picture that asked riddles in order to grant access. The riddle it asked Penelope was well beyond his grasp, but she assured them that the portrait would only ask riddles it felt the student should know.

Once inside the tower, the students were greeted by a diminutive man who identified himself as Professor Filius Flitwick. He introduced them to the Ravenclaw common room, identified their dorms, and provided them their class schedules.

Hari was currently going over his schedule, which started with History of Magic and Herbology on Mondays, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration on Tuesdays, History and Flying on Wednesdays with Astronomy lessons at midnight, Charms on Thursdays, Defense and Potions on Fridays. All of the classes seemed to be paired up with first years from various houses, except for Flying and Astronomy, which everyone attended together.

He made sure his texts were ready, and then pulled out a quill and some paper. He needed to get plenty of sleep in order to start scouting the castle for passages and vulnerabilities, but first he had to write a very important letter.

* * *

Hinata was in the middle of her breakfast when she summoned her companion serpent Hebirakku. The gruff, male snake had a note tied around the base of its head. Hari had been told to use Hedwig to transmit most of his mail and to reserve the method to serpents for more important documents. She cut the rope holding the note and quickly opened the letter.

_Dad,_

_I've managed to infiltrate the school successfully. I think I'm in the clear. I'm working on profiles for my classmates, but first I have something important to discuss._

_This school doesn't serve any Ramen. I don't think I can survive. We need to figure out how to get a Ramen delivery system going on. Maybe something like "Flying Thunder Noodles" technique. I'm dying here._

_Send Ramen._

_Hari_

Hinata sighed and headed off to deliver the note to her husband. She loved her husband dearly, and had for many years, but at times like this, she wished that her son took after him a little less.

* * *

Hari was tired as he walked into the Great Hall for dinner. He'd woken in up in the middle of the night to discover Terry Boot and Michael Corner rummaging around his bed. He'd waited until they grabbed his goggles before reaching out and wrenching the thief's arm into a lock. He may be mostly blind without his goggles, but he still had enough vision to take care of two untrained children. He took his goggles out of the Terry's grip and then delivered a weak punch to Michael's gut. The tiny boy fell to the ground and Hari loomed silently over both of them. No words were spoken as the two boys quickly scurried back to their beds.

With that bit of drama taken care of, Hari spent the rest of the early morning updating the dossier's he had on the people he had met. When he went to breakfast, the Ravenclaw table was mostly empty, so he ate a quick egg and sausage breakfast in peace before heading to History.

History was a lesson in terror and tedium. It was taught by a ghost, and his father had always told him horrible stories about what ghosts could do. However, all this ghost seemed to do was teach the most uninteresting history lessons Hari'd ever experienced. They were not unlike the data-parsing lessons he'd had as a child, which were a bunch of tossed-together data points that the students were expected to find the links between. The only problem was that their teacher did not teach them how to correlate any of the data. He managed to keep a log of all the dates and names of all the events, but after an hour and a half, he was quite grateful the class was only a half period. It seemed the other Ravenclaws in the class had worked out systems to share the note taking load amongst each other, but Hari's social awkwardness the night before saw him excluded from any such circles. The Hufflepuffs in class were mostly fighting to stay awake which was either due to some sort of subtle ghost magic or the Professor's incredibly dry lecture. Either way, he was grateful the class only lasted an one and a half hours.

His afternoon class was Herbology, a fascinating study into all manner of potent and dangerous flora. He'd largely skipped the books on the subject in his pre-mission studies, but now he resolved to revisit all of the texts he had ignored. The potential these killer plants offered for defending Konoha was immense. If he could figure out how to care for them and utilize them safely, it would make this entire trip worthwhile.

Herbology did have a slight downside in that it was a class he shared with Slytherin, which meant he had to suffer through Draco Malfoy's annoying little snipes. Apparently his dismissal at the train had left him a bit sore towards Hari. He made a veiled death threat, referencing his birth parents' violent deaths at the same time. If the boy was even a remotely credible threat to Hari, he'd have at least three different plans in effect to kill him, but the eleven-year-old pretentious brat was all bluster and bravado. He certainly wasn't worth the effort concealing his death would require, especially since the client had specifically asked that Hari not kill any of the students. Dealing with brats like Draco was part and parcel with being a ninja on a mission, which is how Hari chose to look at it. Besides, his father ha[d to deal with the same thing when he was his age, and that brat turned out to be Inari-san, a well respected and well connected leader in Wave, who sent all of his contracts to Konoha.

Hari was almost to the Ravenclaw Table when he noticed some of the first and second years shift in their seats. The benches were suddenly filled, leaving no place for Hari to sit. He saw Penelope make some space next to her. When she waved him down, he heard some sniggers from the first years. "Yes, go sit with your mummy, Potter," Terry Boot said sarcastically. Apparently the boy had rallied after his defeat in the morning. The whole group of kids burst into fits of laughter.

He saw the pity in Penelope's eyes as he walked over to her. He wasn't thrilled that the only person in Ravenclaw who would associate with him was only doing it out of pity, but he was still grateful to have at least someone to spend time with. Years working with Hanako and Shidan had taught him the value of friendships, and he certainly wasn't going to deny himself his one source of friendly human contact.

He put on a bright smile as he sat down next to the prefect. The boy sitting next to him looked at him with a quiet glare. Hari chuckled inwardly; apparently he was helping Penelope put some distance between herself and an unwanted suitor. "Hi, Penelope," he said in an enthusiastic tone.

The older girl smiled down at him. "Hello, Harry. Did you have a good first day of classes?"

He nodded. "Professor Binns was a bit dry, but Herbology was fascinating. I can't wait to learn more." It didn't hurt that Herbology didn't seem to require him to cast any sort of spells. "What about you? How were your classes?"

"Ancient Runes, Divination, and Charms today. They were all lovely, but I had a wonderful time in Charms class." Her gaze cut across the room towards the Gryffindor table.

Hari took a moment to look himself. He saw Hermione eagerly chatting rapidly across from Ron and Neville, who were looking slightly uncomfortable around the incredibly talkative muggleborn. He did see Percy Weasley, Penelope's ill-concealed boyfriend, interjecting himself into Hermione's ramblings, much to her delight. "Charms with Gryffindor, I take it?"

Penelope blushed lightly. "Why yes, how did you know?" She glared at him.

He backed away. "Lucky guess, I suppose."

He looked up and saw a young, dark-haired professor glaring down at him from the front table. He felt a sharp pain in his temple as something tried to press its way into his head. He grit his teeth, and doubled over in pain as he channeled chakra into his mental protections. The magic in his mind trapped the presence, which began to try to pull its way out of his head.

He felt the cool touch of Penelope's hand against his neck, which distracted him enough to let the invader escape. He looked around for someone in pain, so he could identify the perpetrator. He looked back up to Professor Snape, and saw him looking curiously down at him. "Harry, are you alright?" Penelope asked.

"I'm fine. Just a brief headache." He quickly piled food from different trays on his plate. He found that most of the food tasted the same, and one cut of meat was hardly unique from the next. "What do you know about Professor Snape?"

Penelope seemed taken aback by his question. "Well, he's a brilliant potions master, but he's a hard teacher to please. He tends to favor his house, and most people don't really like him, but I think he's alright. He's always been fair with me."

A an older boy across the table spoke up. "Oy, don't listen to her. That snake is a right bastard. He won't hesitate to punish you for anything, and lets his Slytherin's have free reign. Watch your step around him."

Hari nodded as he took a bite. The man was certainly trying to look imposing, which was likely intentional. He'd have to wait until Friday to get a closer look.

Hari and Penelope ate in silence for a while, before she got pulled into a conversation with another fifth year girl. He tuned them out as he continued to eat his meal. He really hoped his dad figured out a way to get ramen delivered. This food was beginning to wear on him.

He was about finished with his meal when Penelope addressed him again. "You know Harry, you would probably fit in a bit better if you wore a proper pair of spectacles instead of those weird-looking goggles."

Hari frowned. Everyone kept harassing him about his goggles. He was tempted to dismiss her out of hand, but she was his one friend in Ravenclaw, so he felt obligated to explain something. "I can't see very well without them. I'd be too afraid I'd lose my glasses, and then I couldn't see anything."

Penelope looked quizzically at him. "Do you have a tendency to forget things?"

"No, but I am pretty active. I would hate for them to fall off while I was running around. Plus these goggles are way more durable than glasses."

"Well, what about contacts? Those might be a better solution?"

He paused. He wasn't familiar contacts. "What are those?" If she had a new solution to his vision problem, that could be quite useful.

"Contacts are small pieces of plastic you place on your eyes to help you see. Do you not have contacts where you are from?"

Hari considered the idea while he shook his head. "How do they stay in place?"

Penelope frowned. "I'm not entirely certain, but my brother uses them. He's a muggle. They seem to hold pretty tight. Well, except in the pool. You'd have to take them out before going into water."

Hari shook his head again. He'd heard stories of water users turning the entire battlefield into a lake, and there was no telling when he'd be forced to fight underwater. As he expected, the goggles really were the best answer. "Thanks for the thought, but I think I'll stick to my goggles, Penelope."

She sighed. "Okay, Harry. Just, please tell me if things get worse. It's not good to be so alone at Hogwarts."

He nodded politely. "Thanks, Penelope. At least I have you to hang out with at meals." She sighed and patted him gently on the back. He finished his meal and looked over to her. "Now, I think I'm going to head out. I'd like to study up on Transfiguration before class tomorrow." And by 'study up on Transfiguration,' he meant 'go explore the Forbidden Forest.' It was time for him to find out what the big deal with it was.

* * *

The Forbidden Forest was awesome. It reminded him of training ground forty-four, but with massive spiders, aggressive horse-eagle hybrids, and a number of dangerous plants that he looked forward to learning more about in herbology. He made sure to keep his clones out in front in case he tripped over anything too dangerous, but the inherent danger of the forest kept it free from the prying eyes of other wizards and witches. This allowed him to use the forest as a personal training ground, and the tall trees provided plenty of opportunity to work out.

He spent the better part of the night in the forest. Thankfully he had the foresight to leave a clone behind to make appearances in the Ravenclaw Tower and throw off any suspicion. He snoozed his way through Quirrel's class. He tried to stay awake, but the professor's inability to complete a sentence without stuttering was distracting him any potential learning. He did understand the professor's insistence that he wouldn't need to use defense; it was clear that students were not expected to ever encounter any of the dangerous creatures or objects that the professor was describing. This didn't stop Hermione from asking over two dozen questions, all of which the professor refused to answer, while becoming increasingly agitated by the subject matter he was forced to teach.

At one point, he awoke to a folded note on his desk. It was from Hermione, telling him to pay attention. He looked over at the pushy, young girl and smiled. He reminisced on the times when Hanako-chan would harass him in the academy for falling asleep. He managed to stay awake for the rest of the class, and caught Hermione and Ron sparing him a few glances throughout class. Neville, on the other hand, seemed exceptionally nervous for some reason, and had his entire focus directed at the skittish teacher.

After class, Hermione was waiting for him in the halls. He walked up to her and smiled. "Good morning, Hermione. Enjoying classes so far?"

Hermione beamed. "Oh, yes. Yesterday I had Potions and History of Magic. I managed to get a very close potion in class. It was supposed to relieve a neck ache, but mine apparently only worked on back aches. Professor Snape is having me write a paper on what errors I made during my brewing, so I'm heading off to the library to do some reading, but I was wondering if you might be interested in doing something together tonight after dinner?"

Hari wanted to spend some more time working on some of his techniques in the forest, but he recognized an opportunity when he saw it. He was going to need to make friends in the castle if he was going to stay sane. "Sure, I can hang out with you tonight." He frowned. He wasn't really sure where students from separate houses could hang out. "Uh, where were you thinking we could meet?"

Hermione continued her long winded cadence. "Oh, well, Percy mentioned that after dinner the Great Hall is open to students, and is often used as a neutral ground for students from separate houses. It is a bit unorthodox, since we are first years, but Percy was willing to come with us so no one would question us."

Hari smirked. "I bet it would go even better if we had a Ravenclaw prefect with us. I'll have to see about that." Percy Weasley was the Gryffindor prefect that had been exchanging knowing, meaningful glances with Penelope for the past two nights. There was no doubt in Hari's mind that he orchestrated the whole thing to spent more time with her. "I'll see you after dinner, then?"

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Now, I must be going, I do not want to fall behind on my work. I will see you tonight, Harry." The bushy-haired girl left in a hurry, leaving Hari by himself. With nothing more pressing to do, the young ninja decided to spend his hour long break out in the courtyard, staring up at the sky and watching clouds go by.

* * *

Lunch was a dull affair. Penelope didn't notice him, and he wasn't about to bother her. She was surrounded by friends her age, chatting happily with them. Hari ate alone at the end of the table. The rest of the first years gave him a fair amount of space and ignored his presence.

Transfiguration was an interesting class. The stern Professor who greeted them the previous night introduced herself by transforming from the form of a cat. Her introduction of the course included a demonstration of changing a desk into a pig. There was clearly an amazing amount of potential in the study of transfiguration, and Hari secretly hoped that the crazy old man was wrong about his magic.

Unfortunately, when the practical part of the class began, his perfect mimicry of the Professor's instructions had no effect on his match. He tried again, and once more nothing happened. He looked around the class and was encouraged by the lack of reaction from any of the other students matches. He considered that perhaps this was a strengthening exercise for magic, but when he watched the other students, he noticed the imperfections in their wand movements and their imprecise incantations. He realized that if McGonagall was paying close attention to him, she would realize that something was wrong, so he introduced simple imperfections into his movements.

By the end of class, only Hermione had even managed a partial success, turning her match into a vaguely metallic stick. Ron, on the other hand, was rather nonplussed by the end of class, as Hermione continued to speak excitedly about what they had learned and what she had accomplished.

At dinner, Penelope flagged him down before he had a chance to sit by himself. "Harry, sorry I missed you at lunch. How were classes today?"

Hari shrugged. "Defense Against the Dark Arts was pretty strange. Professor Quirrell doesn't seem like he likes teaching about dark creatures very much. I suppose he's a pretty good cautionary tale of what can happen if you fail to study defense, but I'm not sure that's a very good method of teaching defense." He paused. "On the other hand, Professor McGonagall seems like an incredibly competent teacher who really enjoys Transfiguration. I'm just not very good at it. I couldn't even get my match to turn metallic."

Penelope nodded as he spoke. "Professor McGonagall is a great teacher. Don't be discouraged, it took me almost a month of practice before I could transfigure a match into a needle. Once you get the basics though, it does get easier." She didn't comment on their defense professor.

Hari realized that it would probably be unbecoming of someone in a position of authority to disparage a professor, which meant her lack of defense spoke volumes. "Another good thing happened today. I'm going to get to spend some time tonight after dinner with some classmates from Gryffindor." He grinned. "I don't suppose you had anything to do with that, did you?"

Penelope eyed him suspiciously. "I may have mentioned to a fellow prefect in Gryffindor that one of my first years was having trouble fitting in."

Hari chuckled. "Uh huh. And I expect that in order to make sure we don't get up to any trouble, both prefects will be present to look after us?"

She colored slightly. "Yes, that was the plan. I can't have you losing points for Ravenclaw. It would just alienate you more from your classmates."

He frowned as he looked down at the first year end of the table. They were all chatting happily amongst each other. It would've made life easier if he could fit in, but every attempt had been rebuffed. At least they hadn't tried to steal from him since the first night. Still, he wasn't quite sure how to ingratiate himself with the group; shunning him was something the group of strangers had bonded over, which made the task more difficult. "I'm not sure that really matters. They really don't appreciate my presence in the house." He realized that his friend had expertly shifted his attention from her clearly still-secret relationship with Percy Weasley. He looked back up at her. "Nice change of subject, by the way." He smiled warmly. If she didn't want to advertise their relationship, then he wasn't going to be the one to spoil it for her. He loaded up his plate with some grey meat. He was told it was pork, which was one of his favorite types of ramen, but the tough slice of pork was nothing like the tender, thinly sliced cutlets of pork he found in his tonkotsu ramen. He ate it with some corn and mashed potatoes, and wished once again that his father would respond to his initial inquiry. He doubted his mother would appreciate the ramen shortage, but he was positive his father would empathize.

After dinner was over, Hari returned to the Ravenclaw tower to retrieve some history texts along with an assignment he needed to complete by thursday's class. Knowing the studious Gryffindor, it was likely that part of this meet-up would be scholastically motivated, so it was best to be prepared since he didn't share all of her classes.

When he re-entered the Great Hall, the various tables were host to a smattering of students from different houses. He spotted Percy, Penelope, Hermione and Ron all sitting at the Gryffindor table. He walked over and noticed Percy and Ron playing a board game that seemed similar to Shoji. Penelope was seated next to Percy, making small talk with Hermione, who was seated next to Ron. He sat down beside Hermione, who smiled at him. "Good evening, Harry." She noticed his bag. "What did you bring?"

"Oh, this is just some school work for History of Magic. I wasn't sure what all we would be doing."

Hermione became excited. "Oh, we have History of Magic tomorrow morning. What are you working on? What is the professor teaching you?"

Ron rolled his eyes as one of his pieces moved forward on the board. "Oi, we'll learn all about that tomorrow, yeah? No need to pester him about it. 'Sides, I thought you were working on something for Snape."

Hermione turned her attention back to the younger ginger. "That's Professor Snape, Ron, and it would be wise of you to show him some respect. I don't see why you are so disrespectful to the man."

Ron scratched his chin when one of Percy's pieces moved. "He's a menace. Did ya see how he was with Neville? Never helped the boy once, even though he was clearly confused, and then he screamed at him and took five points from Gryffindor when his cauldron caught fire. He's just around to make Gryffindors feel bad."

Hari noticed Penelope's lips thin as Ron disparaged the professor. She shared a look with Percy, who gave her a half-shrug. Before she could say anything, Hermione narrowed her eyes and rebutted. "He was perfectly kind to me. Maybe he just has a problem with you, since you couldn't keep root of ashwinder straight from ginger root."

Ron blushed bright red. "He ought to label those. And only you could think that handing out an extra assignment is 'being nice.'"

Hari was watching the pieces move on the board with some interest. His friends' little quarrel was amusing, but it might be nice to divert their attention. "Err, Ron, what are you playing?"

Ron looked over at him across Hermione. "This is wizard's chess. You've never heard of it?" Hari shook his head. "Oh, well the whole point of the game is to take the opponent's king. Each side has the same pieces, and each type of piece moves a different way."

Percy cut in. "If you move your piece onto one of your opponent's pieces, you remove it from the board. These pieces -" he indicated the short fighters holding maces in the front "- are pawns. They move forward one space at a time, unless there is a piece diagonal to them, in which case the can capture that piece. They can't capture pieces in front of them. This piece," he said, pointing to the piece that was in heavy armor on a horse, "is a knight. It moves in an L shape. Two spaces in one direction and one in another. It can hop over other pieces."

Realization dawned on Hari. This wasn't like Shogi, this was Shogi, just with different pieces and board. "I think I get it. I've played a game very much like this." He looked at the board again, now with a better understanding of the game. Percy was clearly the more experienced player. He had a well-structured defensive build, and had opened up most of his back ranks in order to get his power pieces into play. Ron, on the other hand, seemed to lack organization for his defense. He clearly had not studied much about how to open the game, but that made sense given his lack of seriousness when it came to studying for classes. Given the clear disparity in understanding, what was most remarkable was how close the game still was. Ron had actually managed to take more pieces than Percy and was up one rook, and was also currently threatening his queen. Percy was forced to retreat, which let Ron take another pawn uncontested. Percy may have been a better study of the game, but he clearly lacked the strategy his younger brother had.

His analysis of the game was interrupted when Hermione waved a hand in front of his face. He looked over at her. "Er, sorry."

She smiled softly. "I said, what did you think of classes today?"

"Defense seems like a waste of time. The professor clearly doesn't want to be there. It's a wonder he was even hired for the job, or took it when offered. He reads descriptions straight from the book, and refuses to answer any questions."

Percy let out an aggrieved sigh. "Try not to judge too harshly. Hogwarts has had a terrible track record keeping Defense professors around. This is his first time teaching, and I've heard he had a rough time of it last year. Hopefully, as time goes on, he'll grow into the role."

Hari nodded. "I hope so. On the other hand, Professor McGonagall seems quite adept at her subject. I just hope that I can grow into that subject." He kept his expression neutral. He was already planning for the various ways he could fool the stern teacher into believing he was a capable transfigurer.

Hermione smiled. "Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine. Professor McGonagall is a very capable teacher, and I was able to almost get it, so I'm sure you won't have any troubles."

Hermione could be quite insensitive about flaunting her talents, Hari mused. He heard a low grumble from Ron as another piece moved into place. Ron was entering the endgame, clearing the way for one of his pawns to promote and applying pressure to Percy's board. Percy moved the knight which was protecting his king, and Hari saw checkmate in five moves for Ron. Ron saw it as well, and quickly moved in for the kill. Percy grimaced as he realized the situation, and politely shook his brother's hand. Ron turned to Hari. "Care for a game?"

Hari nodded and Percy moved from his seat to the other side of Penelope. He smiled when he saw their hands grasped under the table. Hermione frowned slightly, and leaned forward as Hari sat down behind the black side of the board. "So, have you played this much before, Harry?"

"I've played a lot with one of my uncles. I've never beat him though, so I'm not sure if I'm any good." Hari knew that was a lie, as he was pretty much unbeatable by most of the kids his age. He still could not hope to beat Shikamaru, but every defeat included a lesson for the future. He was quite curious to gauge Ron's skill, given his unorthodox victory in the previous match.

Hari opened with a standard move sequence, developing his knights and middle pawns early. Ron's opening was focused on the queen side of his board. Hari resisted the temptation to capitalize on his early game strength, instead choosing to continue to develop his pawns and expose his back line. Ron was clearly lacking confidence, refusing to act on Hari's passivity. Finally, Hari developed his bishop to pin Ron's king side pawn. Ron's eyes jerked up to look at Hari, and then back to the board, and he rubbed his chin with his hand. He spent a minute analyzing his misshapen defense when he promoted a pawn to a spot covered by a knight.

Hari assessed his board, and began harassing the young boy's defenses while setting up a trap. He baited it with a rook that he pushed up out of its castle position. Ron picked up his piece, ready to spring it. Percy spoke. "Looks like you over extended yourself, Harry. Don't feel too bad, Ron's quite good at this game."

Ron was about to place the piece when he froze. He looked back up to Hari, and then down at the board. He placed it back in its starting position, and folded his hands together and stared at the board. Finally, he moved a bishop on the other side of the board, effectively cutting pinning Hari's key knight in place. Hari spoke in a soft tone. "Good call, Ron." Hermione, Penelope and Percy looked on in confusion. Hari withdrew the rook to protect his knight, and get it out of bishop's path. The game continued slowly, as trades started dwindling the piece count.

Unfortunately for Ron, he could never get his king side rook into play, and while Hari was able to trade pieces even, eventually the dead piece was too much. Hari pinned the king with a protected queen, and the game was over. "Good game, mate." Hari smiled warmly and held out his hand.

Ron smiled ruefully and shook his hand. "Can't win them all."

Percy frowned. "I'm surprised you didn't capitalize when Harry pushed his rook forward."

Hari laughed. "Actually, I am too. I was hoping he'd fall into that trap. I'm surprised you sussed that one out." Percy snapped his head over to Hari and looked at him in shock.

Ron laughed. "Yeah, that was right clever of you. We should play again sometime, that was the best game I've played in awhile."

Hari considered the young boy. He lacked motivation and self-confidence, but he was quite clearly a genius. He reminded him of his uncle a bit. It could be well worth his time developing him into a more useful asset. "Yeah, that would be great. I can show you a few tricks to opening your game as well."

Hermione huffed slightly. "That was quite impressive. I can't say that I really understood what all was going on. It seemed like you both kept moving pieces without really doing anything." She bit at her lip. "Do you think you could teach me a bit as well?"

Hari chuckled. Hermione, clearly unlike Ron, was incredibly motivated. There was not a single subject that she didn't want to learn more about. "Yeah, I could probably show you a couple pointers."

Penelope was leaning against Percy, which thankfully escaped the notice of the room. She straightened up. "It's getting close to curfew, Harry. We should probably be heading back to Ravenclaw tower."

Percy nodded. "And you two should be getting on to Gryffindor tower."

Ron started packing up his chess set. Hari nodded. "We should do this again. I had fun tonight."

Hermione smiled. "I had fun as well, even if I didn't really understand the game."

Ron smirked. "Don't worry, Hermione, I've only been playing for a couple months, and already I can beat my brother regularly. I'm sure you won't have any trouble with it."

She scowled at him for a moment before she realized he was throwing her words back in her face. She looked sheepish. "Err, right. I'm sure, Ron."

Hari rolled his eyes. He did hope that the only two people his age in this castle could learn to get along without their constant bickering. He stood up, gathered his bags, and walked with Penelope back to the Ravenclaw tower.

* * *

Percy Weasley's year was off to a fantastic start. He had been recognized by Professor Vector and Professor Sprout for his skill in Arithmancy and Herbology, his status as prefect afforded him a greater amount of respect from the students and teachers, and he was dating the amazing Penelope Clearwater, a relationship that the started over a Hogsmeade weekend last year.

He was in an unused classroom with her at the moment, and she had him pressed up against a wall, placing soft kisses on lips, cheeks and jaw. Their robes were both unsnapped, leaving only their school clothes between them. She had already undone his tie, and her arms were wrapped around his neck. His hands were on her side as he continued to snog with his beautiful girlfriend. He was a bit nervous about being caught by another student, as well as the level of physical intimacy to use in these situations. Penny had always been insistent that she wasn't fragile, but he enjoyed their relationship too much to let his hormones bollocks it up.

He heard her let out a soft moan as his hands ran up her side, when the school bell rang. Her eyes flashed open. "Charms! Oh bloody hell, I'm going to be late for Charms." She quickly pulled away and snapped up her robes back in place. She ran her fingers through her hair to try to straighten it. "Do I look proper?"

Percy was still in a bit of a haze. She seemed to notice and frowned. "Oh, Percy, I'm sorry, I just lost track of time." She rushed forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.

When they parted, he smiled. "It's alright, I seem to have lost track of time myself. Yes, you look quite proper, dear."

She blushed. "I really must be off." She grinned impishly and leaned forward. She whispered into his ear. "Perhaps tonight, after we've walked the first years back to the tower from Astronomy, we can continue this."

Percy blushed and nodded dumbly as he felt his breath catch in his throat. His girlfriend gave him a kiss on his cheek before racing out of the room. Percy was grateful he had a patrol period that afternoon and wouldn't be racing off to any classrooms like Penny. He snapped his own robes close and wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow. When he walked out the door, he heard a loud crunch from over his shoulder. He turned to see the strange goggle-eyed boy Penny had befriended. "Err, Mr. Potter, shouldn't you be in class?" He was quite confident that the first years wednesday afternoons were occupied with some sort of class.

The young lanky boy smirked at him. "I would be in Flying today, but apparently it's cancelled the first week. Quidditch tryouts, I believe." He took another bite out of the apple in his hand. "I do hope Penelope isn't late to her class. She seems to value punctuality highly."

Percy stiffened. He narrowed his eyes at the young boy. He refused to be baited. "She knows the castle better than most, and will have plenty of time to make it by the next bell."

Harry chuckled. "Going to play innocent, eh? Good on you." He took another bite from the apple.

Percy let out a long-suffering sigh. "What do you want, Mr. Potter?" He wasn't about to be blackmailed by a firstie, but he would like to avoid embarrassment for Penny or himself.

The young boy become serious. "Penelope has looked out for me, so I want to help her if I can." He paused. "She thinks I'm a pathetic little firstie, so she'll probably try to keep me from interfering, but if there's anything I can do to help her, I want you to make sure I know."

Percy eyed the young boy. "You realize that you are a pathetic little firstie."

Hari grinned. "Correction: I'm a pathetic little firstie who figured out your little secret. Don't worry, I can keep a secret. I just want to help where I can. Deal?" The young boy held out his hand.

Percy rolled his eyes. The boy seemed harmless enough, and his heart was in the right place. "So long as you can keep a secret." He shook the boy's hand.

Harry nodded. "Now with that out of the way, I'll start by getting the Ravenclaw firsties to bed as soon as Astronomy is over. Wouldn't want you and her staying up too late."

Percy blushed, wondering just how much of their snog Harry overheard. "Err..." He cleared his head. "I thought the first years hated you."

Harry was smirking the same way his twin brothers did when they thought they were being clever. "They do, which is why I can get them to do whatever I want." He laughed. "Don't worry, Percy. I'll handle the first years for you and Penelope. I worry about her. She seemed stressed about something this morning."

Percy nodded. His girlfriend did seem a bit off at breakfast. He was surprised that Harry had picked up on that so quickly. "Right. I will. I should be off now. I have rounds, which I imagine will be quite eventful with all the first years roaming the halls."

Harry nodded. "In that case, I'll be off. I need to go get up to no good while the lone prefect is up to his elbows in unsupervised kids." Percy frowned at the boy, who grinned at him. "Just kidding. I'll be in the library, working on History. I have a paper due tomorrow. Eight inches on Halfpit the Dim." With that, Harry bolted off in the direction of the library.

With a sigh, Percy made his way towards the Great Hall to make sure it hadn't become a mad house.

* * *

Aloha my fair readers! I'm currently in Hawaii, and, thanks to a ten hour plane ride, another chapter is done and ready to post. I believe this is the part of the chapter where I try to make an excuse for why it's taken so long. I guess the closest I can offer is "I really like League of Legends."

Thankfully, my intrepid beta reader Mon Esprit Libre, without whom this document would be awash with errors, spurred me on to get the chapter completed. If you get a chance, be sure to check her stuff out, it's pretty awesome.

She also made me realize that one of the bits about Hari is not always easy to keep in your mind, namely his goofy looking goggles he wears instead of glasses. One thing I'm looking into doing is getting an image for the cover of this story, which is just an image of Hari wearing his goggles. If any aspiring artists out there would be willing to help me out with this, I'd be most appreciative. I did Google Image Search it, which came up with lots of pictures of Luna wearing her crazy glasses, so I'm calling that a strike out.

Also, a big shoutout to everyone over at viridiandreams . net. S'tarkan is a phenomenal writer and a major reason why I ever discovered the Harry Potter and Naruto fandoms in the first place. The community that has sprung up over there has been a great help while I write this piece.

And one last piece of bookkeeping; at four chapters and 40k words this is officially my longest work. I'm pretty sure that's a testament to my inability to follow through, but I'm gonna take it as a positive. Here's to a whole new regimen of writing and posting quality content. Or maybe mediocre content I happen to think is quality.

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, added me to a community, and most importantly reviewed. Reviews are the easiest way for you to connect to me and I guarantee I'll follow up. As always please review, and if you are stuck thinking of something to say, let me know what you thought of the Harry / Ron chess match. Was I too in the weeds, did my lack of chess experience shine through, should I never talk about chess again? Or, just let me know what a terrible person I am for sorting Harry into the wrong house, and then please let me know what the right house is.

Mahalo for reading!


	5. Friends

Disclaimer - A double rainbow is a phenomenon of optics that displays a spectrum of light due to the sun shining on droplets of moisture in the atmosphere.

**Uzumaki Hari and the Squib of Hogwarts**  
Friends

_"True friends stab you in the front."_ -Oscar Wilde

* * *

Wednesday night Astronomy classes had gone well. The first years were up until two in the morning charting the stars. Hari had kept his promise to Percy, as well. He asked around all of the Ravenclaw first years if any of them would be willing to stay past schedule with him so he could get the rest of his work done. Every single one of them begged off, and most of them were out of the Astronomy Tower before their time was even up.

That morning, at breakfast, Penelope had been in high spirits. She chatted merrily with him about Charms, caught her blush when Percy Weasley entered the great hall, and noticed when the two shared a look. Hari enjoyed his breakfast of toast, eggs and sausage before heading to history.

History was still barely tolerable. More puzzle pieces were falling into place, and Hari could tell wizards really had no idea how to work nicely with goblins. Still, the ghost's cadence kept forcing his attention to drift. He wondered if some dark ghost magic being used, or if Binns was seriously just that dull.

Hari had confirmed their study session that night with Ron and Hermione at lunch, and then headed to Charms class.

Charms class started like all of his other classes, with his tiny Professor taking role, discussing the subject matter of the class in broad strokes, and then going into a discussion of the first spell they would learn. In this case it was Lumos, a spell that projected a bright light at the end of the user's wand. As with Transfiguration, he was able to use his training to easily mimic the motions and words, but nothing happened. He quickly altered his routine to let the appropriate amount of failure into his routine.

It was only a moment later when he realized his plan wasn't going to work this time, as Padma Patil badly missed on the spell motions and verbalizations, and still created a pale yellow light on the end of her wand. Su Li managed to create a dark, light-draining effect before she dropped her wand. Hannah Abbot a moment later managed to create a bright green light from the end of her wand, which the Charms professor cheered. "It's not the right color, Ms. Abbot, but it is the right brightness. For that, five points to Hufflepuff." Michael Corner was soon able to get the spell both bright and white, which earned him a few points for Ravenclaw. All around the class, more students were finding success with the spell, and Hari was becoming increasingly isolated in his inability to cast a spell. Unfortunately, this fact had not gone unnoticed.

"What's the matter, Potter?" Padma pushed her lit wand in front of his face. "Can't complete even a spell as a simple as _Lumos_?"

He was tempted to point out that her spell was still a shade of red, but the words failed in his throat. This was not a time to draw attention to himself. "I'm not sure what the problem is..." He sounded desperate as he continued to miscast the spell.

Anthony Goldstein smirked at him and then raised his hand. "Professor, Harry is having some troubles with the spell. Maybe you should help him."

Hari grit his teeth as the professor meandered over and looked up at him through his spectacles. "Well, let's see then, Mr. Potter."

Hari kept his face focused. He twisted his wand in a completely incorrect motion, shortened the 'u' and 'o' sound, and pushed his will against the wand. A small red light flickered and then disappeared. He hoped his Professor didn't realize what that was.

The short Professor hummed as he stroked at his goatee. "Well, your wand motion is completely off, and your enunciation is atrocious. Still, that was close enough to produce some sort of effect." He turned to Hari. "I would recommend that you practice this charm seriously, Mr. Potter. That was not a very impressive spell."

The students were soon whispering to each other about the display, and it became a small buzz in the air, when Professor Flitwick turned and stomped his foot. "That is enough. You should all continue to practice this charm, and by next class, I want you to each turn in an essay eight inches in length on the various elements of this spell and all the ways you can get it wrong."

The class ceased its whispering, until Kevin Entwhistle leaned over towards him. "You don't belong at Hogwarts, Squib."

Hari blushed bright red and scowled. He wasn't embarrassed by the insult, but by the shame of being called out. He lifted his nose and whispered. "I'm not a Squib, you'll see." He had to prove his magical talent, and that meant he couldn't be complacent any longer. It was time to be much more proactive in his studies. "You'll all see."

Kevin snorted, and went back to his work. Hari began plotting how he was going to break into his Head of House's residence to steal his class notes. It was shaping up to be a busy weekend.

* * *

Hermione sat down nervously next to Ron and Harry, who were already in the middle of a game of chess. Rumor of Harry's spectacularly embarrassing Charms class had already reached her, and she had brought three separate books on Charms in case Harry needed some additional practice. Harry eyed the books with a slight scowl. He turned his focus back to his game, as Ron made a move. "Good to see you both are already here. I took the liberty of bringing along a couple of Charms texts I found in the library that might be useful to a study session."

Harry was bent over with his hands hidden underneath the table, staring impassively at the board. He moved his knight to take one of Ron's pawns. Ron looked at the board from a few angles. "Bloody hell, Harry."

"Language Ron!" Hermione had been long trained by her parents against using vulgarities. Her housemate, on the other hand, was not nearly so restrained.

Ron blushed. "Sorry Hermione, he just keeps pinning me down." He ran his fingers through his long, ginger bangs, which revealed a film of sweat on his forehead.

Harry smirked at Ron, before turning his face to Hermione. "Looking to study Charms, then? Having troubles?"

It was her turn to blush. "Well, no, I just…" She trailed off. "I heard about your Charms class today." Actually, what happened was Pavarti had teased her about her 'boyfriend' being a squib, but she didn't see the need in sharing that information. Ever since Tuesday night, more rumors about her, Ron and Harry had been circulating. She wasn't quite sure where they were coming from, but they had put her in an uneasy relationship with the Gryffindor Patil sister.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not too worried about it. I've got some ideas on why it wasn't working, and I think I know what I need to do to succeed."

Hermione sighed as she shook her head. She knew Ron was not one to take his studies seriously, but Harry had seemed different. He had actually read through his books prior to attending Hogwarts. So she did not understand why he was being so obstinate. "I would have thought you would take your studies more seriously, Harry. Not being able to cast a simple light spell is going to hurt your grades in Charms."

Harry snorted at her. He actually snorted at her, like he was making fun of her. It hurt her deeply and she picked up her books. "Fine, I suppose if you aren't interested in studying with me, then I will simply retire to the library, where I can have some peace and quiet." She turned on her heels and made her way out of the Great Hall.

She heard heavy footfalls from behind her and Harry's voice called out to her, "Hermione, wait." She stopped walking as he ran up in front of her. "I wasn't making fun of you. I was thinking about how serious it would be if I couldn't cast a _Lumos_, and all you were considering was my grade in Charms." He chuckled before continuing, "Which seemed very funny to me. I have actually read through most of those books, and I have an idea what's wrong with my spell casting, but it's…" He paused for a moment. "It's very embarrassing. I just… I don't want to think about it tonight. I was hoping to spend time with you and Ron, play a game of chess, chat with you about any other class, and deal with my Charms issues this weekend. Please?"

In that moment Hermione realized how vulnerable Harry Potter looked. She relaxed. She had not considered that if the rumors had made it as far as the Gryffindor house, they had surely piled on to Harry. She nodded. "Of course, Harry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things worse for you. It must have been a very stressful day for you." She placed a hand on his shoulder and walked with him back to the table they shared with Ron, Penelope and Percy. She took up a seat next to Harry as he continued his game. It was easy for her to forget how nice having friends was compared to not having them at all. She was glad Harry was a bit more patient than she was.

Harry moved another piece on the board to Ron's dismay, and then turned to her. "So Hermione, what did you think of Herbology with Professor Sprout?"

"Oh it was absolutely delightful. The greenhouses are quite beautiful, and I am absolutely enchanted by the thought of working with so many different types of plants. She showed us the bouncing bulbs, tulips that bound around once they are cut. Apparently they can be used in a bouncing potion, but it's quite difficult to brew."

Harry had a relaxed smile on his face as he moved his Queen across the board. "Checkmate."

Ron scowled as he analyzed the board carefully, before letting out a sigh. "You win again, mate." He held out his hand to Harry, who promptly shook it. "You're quite good at this game."

Harry grinned back at him. "I've been playing for quite a while now."

Ron grinned. "It's great. I hadn't met anyone who was really great at the game. No offense, Percy. Just you wait, though, this winning streak of yours is coming to a close."

Hermione turned her attention back to Harry. "So, are you looking forward to classes tomorrow, Harry?"

Harry nodded briefly before pausing. "Well, I'm not looking forward to Defense. The professor is rather awful for that class. Would've liked someone a bit more comfortable with the material to teach it. Potions, on the other hand, I'm excited for."

Ron screwed up his face. "Don't get your hopes up, mate. Professor Snape is another awful teacher. If you thought Professor Quirrel is bad, he's no match for Professor Snape."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to Ron, Harry. Professor Snape is a fine instructor, and it is good to see you excited for your studies."

Harry smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Hermione. And thanks both of you for hanging out with me. It's good to have friends here."

Hermione beamed. After years of social isolation at her primary schools, she had to agree that friends were an amazing thing to have.

* * *

"Oh look, the Squib has graced us with his presence. Looking forward to botching up your potions as well? I can't wait to see how you fail in this class."

Hari rolled his eyes as he pressed forward into the dungeon-classroom. The tall, intimidating figure of their potions instructor made a menacing impression from behind his desk.

When the rest of the students trickled into the room the professor turned towards them and began to take roll. He paused briefly on Hari's name. "Harry Potter. It seems we have a celebrity in our midst. Not that celebrity is worth much, given your inability to cast even the most basic charm." Snickers spread through both sides of the class. There was a discomforting feeling have enemies completely surrounding you, but Hari soldiered on. A handful of civilian children weren't any real danger to him. The professor, on the other hand, seemed keenly interested in the boy.

When Professor Snape finished the roll call with Blaise Zabini, he immediately set in to a completely overblown description of the course. The fervor and emotion he put into his speech reminded Hari of a kabuki actor. Still, if the class could live up to half the claims the Professor made, then it would be worthwhile to pay attention.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry jerked to attention as the speech transitioned into him being called out. "What would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hari frowned as he went through the information he had learned over the summer. Those ingredients didn't ring any bells. "I'm not sure, sir."

The professor sneered at him. "Then being a celebrity isn't worth much now, is it Mr. Potter?" Hari frowned slightly as another round of snickers rose through the class. "Another question. Mr. Potter, where would one find a bezoar?"

Hari smirked and suppressed his first three answers which were 'up my sleeve,' 'in my right hip pocket,' and 'in a secret compartment in my boot.' "Bezoars can be found in the stomach of a goat, sir." When Shikamaru and he discovered a potential poison cure-all, they immediately set about procuring these resources. It was just a quick jaunt to the outlying areas of Stone Country to find a herd of goats to sacrifice. Sifting through their bile was quite foul, but the small black stones they found were well worth the discomfort if they were half as effective as the literature portrayed them.

Severus was momentarily stunned by the response. "That is correct Mr. Potter." The man stared intently at the boy. "And for your information, adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood yields a Draught of Living Death." He looked at the rest of the class with a more intimidating glare. "Well? Why are none of you taking any notes?"

The rest of class felt quite at home to Hari. Professor Snape placed some instructions on the blackboard for creating a polishing potion. The instructions were precise in some areas and vague in others. Hari used his book as a reference, and discovered that information lacking from the blackboard could be found in the book, and the precise instructions on the blackboard were often instructions left out of the book. From time to time, he noticed that an instruction on the board conflicted with information in the book. He then realized that his potions teacher wasn't just teaching them how to craft a potion, but testing them on their abilities to interpret instructions.

Hari smirked. This was just one more area his training prepared him for. He quickly compiled the proper ingredients, and noted in the margins of his texts some of the additional information Snape provided them. He was setting his cauldron to boil, when he noticed a number of Slytherin and Ravenclaw students struggling. Snape was busy literally putting out fires and ensuring the boiling potions didn't spill over onto a student. He grinned as he forged ahead, and soon he was well ahead of the other students in his potion making. The bubbles and colors the potion kept turning gave him hope. Perhaps his lack of magic wouldn't hamper him in this ritual.

"Hey, Harry." He heard a frustrated Kevin Entwhistle speak up. "Err, do you think you could tell me what I'm doing wrong?" The boy's potion was not coming together at all, likely due to the fact that he just dumped a whole nail in rather than shaving off some of the rust like the book indicated.

Hari's potion needed to set for two minutes, so he flipped an hour glass and turned to the boy. "I think it might have something to do with -" He was interrupted by a soft splash as a root of some sort landed in his cauldron. He glimpsed the culprit, Draco Malfoy, an instant before the bottom of his cauldron gave out and boiling liquid began to eat through his desk he quickly stood up, as the rest of the class burst out in laughter at his misfortune. He noted a couple of Ravenclaw's patting Kevin on the back.

For his part Kevin seemed rather embarrassed by the turn of events, but quickly composed himself and accepted the adulation of his peers. Hari gritted his teeth. He could've struck a blow against the social pariah status haunting him, but it was not to be.

Professor Snape moved forward and waved his wand, vanishing the potion and cauldron at once. "Do you think this class is a joke, Mr. Potter? Five points from Ravenclaw for your carelessness." He gave a brief nod to Draco Malfoy before turning back to Hari. He levitated a cauldron from a shelf to his hands, which he sat down on Hari slightly disfigured desk. "Now, you will began again, and this time I expect you to pay better attention."

Hari then realized there was an entirely separate angle to potions. Not only was it processing instructions, but also dealing with a hostile environment. It was not unlike the etiquette class he took with Ibiki so many years ago. He smiled at the professor before looking through the cauldron. As he expected, it was still dirty, stained with components that would no doubt spoil his potion. He quickly took the cauldron over to the sink and scrubbed it vigorously, ensuring all debris was cleared. He was suddenly racing against the clock trying to get the preparation steps completed with enough time for the potion to boil.

He wove preparation steps into sitting times, working quickly to ensure each ingredient was prepared at the right time. It was a delicate balancing act, and combined with protecting his cauldron from stray ingredients, was a challenge to the young ninja. There were five minutes remaining in the class when Hari's potion shifted to the correct shade of orange. He quickly filled a pair of vials before Snape drew his attention back to him, and stoppered them, placing on in his robes and the other he brought to the front of class.

Professor Snape took the vial and stared at it. His throat was dry when he spoke. "A point to Ravenclaw for properly cleaning out the cauldron supplied to you." He stared for an uncomfortable amount of time into Hari's eyes. "I would have taken ten had you been so foolish to forget."

Hari bowed slightly to his Professor. "Of course, Professor Snape." He felt the rush of accomplishment as he turned back to the classroom and made his way back to his seat. He looked over the rest of the potions, and not one of them was even close to as accurate as his.

He was looking forward to the professor tearing into Malfoy for his shoddy work. The tiny blonde strolled up to the front of the class carrying a potion bluish in color, a far cry from the desired orange hue which Hari had managed to reproduce. The potions professor took the vial and looked it over, before setting the potion on his desk. "Marvelous work, Mr. Malfoy. Five points to Slytherin for your meticulous work."

Hari felt a wave of cold fury rush over him as his eyes shifted to the Professor, who was now staring at him intently. Draco smirked triumphantly at Hari, and he felt a sudden desire to scream. Why would the professor do that, knowing very well that Draco's potion was flawed? He felt a presence push its way into his mind, and in a pique of frustration, Hari activated his seals to trap the invader. He grinned menacingly as the professor fell forward. His arm knocked the two completed potions from the desk, which shattered on the ground. The noise broke Hari's concentration, and the professor reeled back into his chair, sweat beading on his forehead. He looked paler than before as he gasped for breath.

Hari swallowed a breath. He had lost control and attacked the professor. He knew that would not escape without repercussions. Snape wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Mr. Potter, it seems that I misjudged your potion. You must have added in your toad's oil wrong, for your potion had a dangerous side effect in its fumes. Five points from Ravenclaw for your carelessness."

Hari nodded his head slowly. The professor clearly knew what had happened, but he also was keeping it secret.

Hari was still considering the class when he met with Hermione and Ron that night. Ron was playing a game of chess with Hermione, when Hari suddenly remembered something from their first night. "Ron, what do you think of Professor Snape?"

Ron screwed up his face. "He's a menace. He doesn't care about anyone beside his precious little snakes."

Hari's eyes widened. Everything clicked in his mind. Snape was teaching one of the greatest lessons he'd ever received in the academy: life isn't fair. In that light, Professor Snape was downright kind in comparison to the psychological torment that Ibiki-sensei had put his class through during the three weeks he taught "Iwa Military Protocols."

A moment later, Hari also realized that he had failed. He looked down at the potion he had stolen from the class. He had forgotten it in his anger, but now it felt like a second chance. He excused himself from the table and made his way to the nearest toilet. He withdrew his oldest kunai and wetted his robe with the potion, lightly brushing it along the blade of the knife. Impossibly, the steel lost its rust, its tarnish, even its age. After a few strokes, the kunai was cleaner and brighter than one he bought new from the weapons shop.

He took a few deep breaths as the possibilities filled his mind. If he could manage to create even half of the potions he had read about, it would change the way he, and most of Konoha, operated. He needed to inform Shikamaru of this immediately. He needed to inform his father of this immediately. Yet, in that moment, all he could think about was that this was a chance to redeem himself to his teacher. It was an odd realizing that he cared what Professor Snape thought, but Snape was clearly different than the other professors. He taught lessons in secret, and demanded more from his students. He was more than a professor, he was a sensei. Hari grinned to himself. He would prove himself to Professor Snape, and he would learn everything about potions in the process.

He re-stoppered the potion, placed it in his robe, and walked back to Hermione and Ron. He turned to Hermione. "So, Hermione, tell me about this potion's paper you're working on. Learning anything interesting during your research?"

Hermione brightened considerably and began quickly explaining the precise motions associated with stirring techniques and what minor changes in stirring will alter in a potions property.

Later that night Hari tucked into his large four post bed and smiled as he drifted towards sleep. He'd sent a missive to Shikamaru, worked on his profiles, and was ready for the weekend. It promised to be an exciting one.

* * *

Hedwig was sound asleep when her bonded wizard entered her nest. Slowly she opened her tired eyes and let out a loud yawn. By the time she was aware, the child was gone, a letter left in the box for her to deliver, along with a couple strips of bacon. The rest of the room was abuzz with hoots, barks, and chirps from the other owls. She could see the black night sky through a window and realized that she had overslept. A week of delivering letters to the strange forest house had left her completely exhausted. The journey was unlike any other travel she had ever made, and the pressure of it was wearing her out. Still, her job was to deliver the boy wizard's messages, and she would not fail him, even if he clearly did not respect her as he should.

It she flapped her wings a few times and collapsed next to the box. She quickly gobbled up the meager bacon provided to her. A moment later, as she drew herself up grabbed the letter in her beak, a larger tawny owl landed beside her. His loud hoot surprised her, causing her to drop the letter. He shuffled over to the letter and stepped on it. He hooted again and waved his wings at her. He kept hooting and pointing in another direction, when she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. Her feathers were ruffled and falling out, her eyes were half closed, and she was hunched over from exhaustion.

Before she could respond to the owl, he grabbed hold of the letter and took flight out the window. She stared at his retreating form before hearing the tell-tale crack as he made the departure to the strange forest world. She looked to his perch, a brass plate reading Olbo beneath it. She flew back to her perch, where she was soon asleep, dreams of flying beside the kind tawny owl filling her head.

* * *

Hari was perched on an alcove above a fifth floor corridor. He sent a few clones through to perform reconnaissance and provide an alibi for him. He knew the Charms professor was currently in a discussion with the Astronomy professor on a subset of charms used in studying star movements, thanks to a recently dispelled clone, of course. That meant this was currently the optimal time to strike.

He leapt down from his perch and quietly padded over to the Ravenclaw head of house's office, withdrawing a small lockpick set. The keyhole was large enough that he could easily set his picks. A minute later he was inside the professor's office. He was crossing the room when another memory intruded into his head. As soon as he'd crossed the threshold, the professor had quickly excused himself and was currently making his way to the fifth floor.

Hari leapt to the desk and quickly found the first year course notes. He ran his way down the notes, memorizing every spell they'd cover for the next year. Another memory filtered in, showing Flitwick running at speed through the third floor. He placed the book back where he found it, and quickly swept the dust from every other book he could touch. He dashed out of the room and scampered up the wall to his perch. He managed to get control of his breathing just before the short professor rounded the corner and dashed into his office. Harry took the moment to flee the scene before the professor could discover him.

He made his way down to a secret passage he had found on his way to Charms class, which led to a ladder down to the third floor. He walked towards a stairwell to the first floor to trade places with his clone, but then noticed a few drops of blood on the floor. He followed the blood toward the hallway that was declared off limits. He heard a low growl from down the hallway before another memory of Flitwick heading to the fourth floor filtered into his mind.

He formed another clone before bolting down the stairs when a memory from his clone duplicate appeared from a nearby restroom. He entered the restroom quietly and went to wash his hands when a final memory of a massive, three-headed dog smashing down on his clone came into his mind. He stumbled away from the sink in shock.

He looked up as his other clone rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. "What the hell was that?"

Hari took a few deep breaths of air. "That's a very good question. I guess we know why the forbidden corridor promises unspeakable death. That dog was five times the size of Akamaru, and it pounced pretty fast."

The clone scratched his chin. "It was on guard. Think it's looking after that red rock?"

Hari frowned. He had not thought of that. Shadow clones were a little weird in that regard. Ino said it was because it is so easy for your frame of mind to shift, and each shadow clone literally had an alternate perception of the world. Seeing a bird fly by might put you in the right frame of mind to think about a problem differently than watching an ant crawl along the ground. When Hari was struggling with a difficult problem, he liked sending a couple clones out to just process the world in different ways. Lying on the ground while watching the clouds go by was one of his personal favorites, and he had solved more than a few puzzles thanks to his mentor's relaxation technique.

Still, the clone made a good point. That dog seemed like a very reasonable security precaution when trying to protect something, which just made the bumbling oaf of a groundskeeper all the more ridiculous for transporting it. He looked down at the ground. Maybe the oaf wasn't as dumb as he looked. He could have been playing him the whole day, watching him steal the stone and keeping tabs on him to make sure it wasn't swapped. That made a certain amount of sense to Hari, although that was a very dangerous game to play. Was he under Dumbledore's orders to do so? Or was the giant another spy in the castle?

"You need to get back to your friends. They're going to wonder where you got off to." Hari nodded as the clone dispelled. It was a moment later when he realized what the clone had said. It was strange to realize that in such a short amount of time, he had come to see the pushy brunette and obsessive red-head as friends, but it was never wise to lie to yourself. He let out a sigh as he brushed the sweat away from his forehead. Too many clones were returning memories in too short of a short time, and it was causing him to be nauseous.

He took a deep breath and grabbed a towel from beside the sink. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and exhaled. He tossed the towel next to the wash basin and walked out the door. He needed to maintain appearances, but his mental list of objectives seemed to grow every day.

* * *

Hermione Granger was sitting with Ron and Harry in the Great Hall while reading Charms with Charlie, an older text geared towards teaching children their first charms. It written in the late 1700s, back before rules existed to preventing younger children from using their wands. She had discovered it earlier that morning in an unused section of the library. The text was not unlike the children's books that she had read when she was younger, with big picture and few words. Unlike her childhood books, the images moved about in large exaggerated gestures to ensure that the child was able to have something to mimic. She was pleased to note that the very first section of the book covered the light spell. Unfortunately, the book followed a similar pattern to all of the other texts that taught the spell, describing the incantation and wand motions rather than any sort of advice for struggling students.

She was about to put the book aside when she noted a sidebar on the next page directed towards parents. It covered how to handle a child who struggled with the spell. To her dismay, it could only suggest that the parent show patience, as children develop their magic as they grow older, and that they should grow into their magic before their education begins. The final note mentions seeing a professional if the child fails to show any magical talent by age eight, as certain procedures may be required.

She closed the book and bit at her lip. She knew that Harry had grown up away from wizards. He did not talk about his childhood much, but what she did know was that he was just as lost as she was when it came to matters of magical culture. If he was a child who had shown a disability when he was younger, his parents would not have even known where to take him. She spared a glance to her friend. He was quickly reading through a potions text she was not familiar with. "Harry, what are you reading?"

Harry looked up from his book. He bit his lip for a moment before raising the spine so she could see it. "Tinctures of Thebes. It's a book about potions from..." He looked down at the book for a moment. "Greece."

Hermione frowned as she considered his sentence, when Ron blurt in. "Oy, not you too, mate. Did Snape get his greasy hooks into you too?"

Hermione snapped her head to her disrespectful companion. "Ron, it's Professor Snape, and you should show him more respect. He is quite a proficient potions master, and you will have to learn to accept that. He's going to be your professor for as long as you are at Hogwarts."

Ron screwed up his face and was about to remark when Harry interjected. "Hermione's right, Ron. Complaining about it isn't going to get you anywhere with him, and it just makes you look dumb. Perhaps you should figure out how to succeed in spite of him." Harry looked up at Hermione's reading material and frowned. "What are you reading, Hermione?"

Hermione pinked. "Oh, uh, just a book on Charms." Harry had been a bit sensitive about the subject of charms, and she didn't want to press anything.

Ron leaned over and looked at the text. "Charms with Charlie? Is this like some sort of kids book about Charms?"

Harry's face dropped. "Gee, Hermione, I wonder why you would need a book like that. I've heard that you did well in Professor Flitwick's class." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Hermione blushed. Harry was rather perceptive and always cut at her with his wit. "I was just... I mean to say that I was simply researching historical methods for teaching magic. It's been most informative. Apparently the laws on underaged magic use are relatively recent, so there are quite a few older tomes on how to teach magic to a younger audience."

Harry's blank expression indicated that he did not believe her explanation in the least. She searched for something else to say, when Harry perked up. "Oh, shoot, I have to go. I just remembered something I need to do before I tuck in tonight." He quickly stood up and turned to leave. "Goodnight, Ron. Goodnight, Hermione."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief as the young boy hurried out of the Great Hall. She closed her book and started to pack up the rest of her belongings. She took one last glance at Harry's retreating form. If her suspicions were correct, then Harry's problems went far deeper than just Charms. She hoped desperately that she was wrong.

* * *

Hari was on his way back from the black lake right before curfew. His clothes were still slightly damp from the night swim, but the underwater cavern his clone had found was exactly what he had hoped. A few stolen cauldrons from some of his roommates luggage allowed him to set up a rudimentary potions lab. He left a couple of durable clones to start brewing a few batches of Calming Draught, Forgetfulness Potion, and Babbling Beverage. There were a few additional items he wanted to learn, but getting his hands on some of the upper year potions books had proved difficult.

He was stalking his way up to a side entrance, when a large brown owl swooped down and dropped a parcel at his feet. The letter at the top of the package was from Shikamaru. He looked at the retreating form of the post owl and scowled. He had given a package to Hedwig to deliver the other day, but it looked like his lazy owl had failed in that regard. He stuffed the parcel into his robes and made his way to the owlery.

When he walked in, he saw the snowy owl sleeping on her post. Resting next to her was the large brown owl he saw deliver his post a few minutes ago. The nameplate below the roost read "Olbo". He scowled at the pair. "Hedwig!" The snowy owl awoke with a start. "I believe I made it clear, that when I leave a message for you, you deliver it. I do not expect you to have you hand your work off to one of your little owl friends." Hedwig shrunk down at his tirade. His voice lowered to a whisper. "I have you send sensitive information, and there is an expectation from the recipients that you will be the one delivering it."

Olbo flapped his wings a few times and hooted loudly. The owl rushed forward and perched awkwardly on the young boy's shoulders. Its wings smacked against the side of his head and the owl pecked at the top of his head before hooting loudly into his ear. He was a second away from jamming a knife into his neck when he calmed himself down. He brushed the owl off of his shoulders and it promptly flew back to its post.

Hari cut his thumb on a knife and summoned Hebisoka, who slithered up his body and rested on his shoulder. _"Hari, so nice of you to summon me. What can I do for you?"_

He smiled. It was always calming having her around. _"I'm trying to deal with these featherbrained creatures. Can you help me out here?"_

Hebisoka looked around the room. _"You realize owls eat snakes, right Hari? It's not like we're friends."_

_"Please, Hebisoka. Anything will help."_

Hebisoka looked around the room. _"The white one is exhausted and unkempt. I can see feathers falling out, and she has already fallen asleep. Perhaps being in your employ was too much for the feeble creature."_ She looked over at Olbo and bobbed her head in amusement. _"This one sees her as part of his territory. He is liable to attack you if you continue to harass her. It might be wise to reduce the amount you send messages via your owl, lest you completely wear her out."_

Hari nodded slowly. "Right, Olbo, is it? You and Hedwig will now both be responsible for carrying my messages. I don't want to find out any other owls are carrying my post." He paused. "And in return, I'll make sure to bring enough food for the both of you. I apologize for working you too hard." Olbo hooted pleasantly while Hedwig burrowed her head into his side, still sleeping soundly. "And I'll make sure you both are fed."

_"Forgot to take care of your pets, did you Hari?"_

Hari nodded slowly as he turned to leave the room. _ "Yeah, I suppose I lost track of them."_

_"You should keep a closer watch on them. They are quite a bit smarter than your normal owl. It would not do to alienate them."_

Hari nodded as he walked out the door. _ "I'll be sure to keep a feeding schedule for them. It would be nice if there was a better way to -"_ Hari cut himself off as he heard a noise down the hall. With a quick gesture, he dispelled his summons. As he rounded the next corner he came face to face with Professor Snape wandering the halls.

"Potter. Are you aware of the time?" Snape asked in a snide tone.

Hari paused as he considered the last clock he saw on the way in. "I believe it's about a quarter til nine. Fifteen minutes until curfew."

Snape's eyebrow twitched slighty. "Indeed. And you would not want to be caught outside your dorms after curfew, Potter." He turned away from him and began to walk away.

"Err, Professor Snape," Hari interrupted. He knew that his last encounter with the professor had not gone as well, and needed to play damage control.

The greasy haired professor turned with a look of contempt. "Yes, Mr. Potter? You had best make it quick if you want to make curfew."

Hari spoke warmly to the professor. "I just wanted to apologize for Friday's potion I turned in. I will take better care in the future to avoid any mistakes that might cause you harm. I find I learn quite a bit in your class."

Professor Snape leaned in and stared at Hari with a piercing glare, as he evaluated the motivation behind the apology. He nodded slowly. "See that you don't, Potter." With a flourish of his cape, the brooding professor turned on his heels and stalked away.

Hari waited for him to be out of sight before embarking on a mad dash to the Ravenclaw tower, where he soon found himself fast asleep.

* * *

Sunday was a nice lazy day. Even when he snuck into Professor McGonagall's office, she hadn't even budged from her place in the Great Hall during his entire expedition.

Percy had rounds that day, which meant Penelope was suddenly freed up to spend the day with Hari. It was nice spending a day with the girl who had taken him under her wing. What was less enjoyable was that she had also heard the tale of Hari and the miserable Charms class. She quickly had him standing before her in an empty room. "Alright, Hari. Just keep calm, focus on your wand, jab it over your head, and say _Lumos_."

Hari took a deep breath, as he inconspicuously placed a small flare at the tip of his wand. It was a quick motion that he disguised as a nervous fidget. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Penelope's smiling face. "Alright then. I've been practicing. Hopefully it comes out right this time." He pushed the wand above his head. "_Lumos._" A push of chakra ignited the attached seal, with caught fire to the phosphor. The end of his wand lit up brightly, just like Hermione had demonstrated the other day. He smirked as the flare died down. "Phew. Told you I had it figured out."

Penelope clapped excitedly. "That's brilliant, Harry! Oh, I knew you would be fine."

Hari fought the queasy feeling in his stomach. It was never fun lying to your friends. He maintained a steady smile on his lips. "Thanks for the confidence, Penelope." He kneeled down and quickly replaced the flare cap on his wand. "So, tell me. How's things going with that Percy chap?"

Penelope managed a brief blush. "I'm not sure what you are talking about, Harry."

Hari grinned. "Oh don't be coy with me, Penelope. I may be just a lowly first year, but it's not like I don't have eyes."

Penelope's expression softened. "You're not just a lowly first year." Hari blinked in surprise, and his blood ran cold. Had she somehow figured him out? "What I mean to say is..." She trailed off. "When I first saw you, I felt so awful for you. After that awkwardness with the sorting hat, I saw you might have some troubles and I...I wanted to make sure you had a good first year." She looked away from him.

A few things clicked in Hari's head. "Because you didn't have a very good first year, did you?"

Penelope looked up abruptly. She smiled ruefully. "Yeah. Like I was saying. You aren't just a lowly first year. You are quite perceptive. And quite clever. That's why I knew you would figure out the charm."

Hari ducked his head as he blushed. Penelope had been an amazing friend to him, and hearing her praise felt incredibly warm, and at the same time intensified the uneasy feeling he had about deceiving her. "Thanks, Penelope. I'm really glad you're my friend. I wasn't sure how I would've gotten through this week without you. I don't think the other Ravenclaws are going to be warming up to me anytime soon."

She sighed. "Just...be patient with them, Harry. It's still early in the school year, and everyone is still finding their place. I'm sure things will turn around for you."

He looked over to her, and considered her words. "When did they turn around for you?"

She pause, biting her lip. "I..." She hesitated, which was telling to Hari. "I guess they got better just after christmas hols."

A slight inflection in her voice told Hari that she was lying to him, but he let it go. There was no need to dredge up any dark memories she'd rather leave behind. "That's good. Getting nervous about your OWLs?"

The two of them descended into an amicable conversation, but the feeling of unease never quite left Hari.

* * *

Hermione filed into the large transfiguration classroom with some apprehension. Harry was already seated off to the side, twirling his wand in his fingers. If he had any apprehension about his magical abilities, he didn't let it show. He turned as she approached and waved. She sat down beside him, and pulled out her own wand. A minute later, Ron rushed into the room, just barely beating the bell.

Professor McGonagall stepped to the front of the class, and quickly took the role. Hermione watched Harry take notes as the professor began to lecture. He caught her eye at one point and smiled, which caused her to duck her head back down. She snuck another glance at Harry's notes, which seemed to be an odd mix of Transfiguration and Potions.

She gasped when a match appeared on her desk, and realized that the practical part of the lecture must have begun.

Harry smiled as he continued to jot down notes while Professor McGonagall started around the room. She was quietly correcting various techniques, and offering some small encouragement to students who were showing promise. The students all showed some signs of improvement; even Ron had managed to produce a shiny, though still wooden, stick.

Finally, the professor stopped in front of Hermione. "Miss Granger, I am most curious to see how you have progressed since last week. "

Hermione calmly drew her wand up and visualized the transformation. She drew the wand up and then down. "_Arborferrum_." When she looked down a perfect needle sat before her.

Professor McGonagall beamed with pride. "Fantastic work, Miss Granger. Three points to Gryffindor." She turned to the boy sitting next to her. "And now it's your turn, Mr. Potter."

Harry grinned as he raised his wand over his head in a perfect motion. "_Arborferrum_."

When Hermione looked back down at the desk, she was shocked to see a needle resting on it. She was so certain there was something wrong with Harry's magic. She exhaled. It was relieving knowing that he was going to be alright after all.

Professor McGonagall was also pleased with the result. "Brilliant work, Mr. Potter. Three points to Ravenclaw."

Harry smiled. "Would you like to see me undo it?"

Both Hermione and Professor McGonagall looked shocked at this. Hermione watched the needle closely, as Harry circled his wand over it. "_Finite Incantatem_." Harry's left hand obstructed Hermione's view of the needle at the completion of the spell, but as soon as she could look, she saw the matchstick once again lying on the desk.

"Magnificent work, Mr. Potter. Oh your parents would be so proud if they could see you right now. Ten more points for Ravenclaw."

Hermione, on the other hand, had an uneasy feeling. The motions were right, and the words were right, but there was something off about that spell. She bit her lip. The way his hand passed over the needle reminded her of something a muggle magician might do to fool their audience.

Real magic didn't require any gestures from the hand not holding the wand, and it didn't require misdirection. If Harry was trying to cheat in class, then the only person he was hurting was himself. He would never learn the secrets of Transfiguration that way. It was with that in mind that Hermione waited for Harry after class.

He was grinning ear to ear when he approached her. "Hi, Hermione. What are you up to tonight? Care to study? Maybe I could teach you a thing or two about Transfiguration. I owe you for all the help you've given to me in Charms."

The uneasy feeling surged forward again. She spoke in a hushed tone. "Harry, I know what I saw in there. You cheated at Transfiguration."

Harry's good mood evaporated, as a scowl adorned his face. "What do you mean? Just because lowly Harry Potter can do something the great Hermione Granger can't?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. I mean, I saw what you were doing with your left hand, Harry. You can't do that. You have to learn this stuff properly."

Harry growled. "Keep out of it, Hermione. I don't know what you are talking about, but I don't like the insinuation. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for dinner."

Hermione frowned as Harry stalked away with the rest of the class. Harry was too stubborn for his own good. She quickly made up her mind and started walking towards McGonagall's office.

* * *

Hari was finishing off a bland portion of duck when Professor McGonagall approached him. "Mr. Potter, I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time."

Hari shrugged. "Of course, Professor." He stood from the table, and tried to ascertain why the Professor had pulled him aside. Perhaps she was intending to offer him additional tutelage given his sudden proficiency in Transfiguration.

The intimidating glare gave him pause. He felt more on edge while he walked behind the stern professor.

The door closed behind them as they entered her large office. McGonagall took her seat behind her grandiose desk. With a flick of her wand, a matchstick moved to the center of the desk.

"Mr. Potter, I was wondering if you could demonstrate the transfiguration spell again."

Hari nodded slowly. He palmed a needle in his left hand and drew out his wand. If Professor McGonagall was suspicious of his spellcasting, it was going to make his mission much more difficult.

He calmed himself and drew his wand over his head in a perfect manner, but when he spoke the incantation, he felt a sharp pain in his left hand. The needle tumbled out of his hand. It rolled along the table until it came to rest next to the matchstick.

Hari looked up with wide eyes to the very cold visage of Professor McGonagall. She shook her head in disappointment. "Cheating is punished quite strictly, Mr. Potter. Twenty points from Ravenclaw, and you will be serving a week's worth of detention." She tilted her head down. "Your parents would be quite disappointed in you."

Hari's cheeks burned in shame at being caught. An anger welled up in his chest as he pieced together what had just happened. He lowered his gaze to the ground to hide his fury.

Professor McGonagall spoke again. "You can go now, Mr. Potter. Your Head of House will have the details of your detention for you."

Hari turned and fled from the room. He skulked his way down to the library, where he found Hermione Granger sitting at a table with her head buried in some book. He stalked up to the table, until he was standing behind her. He spoke in a soft, barely constrained voice. "You said something to McGonagall."

Hermione jumped in her chair, papers scattering across the table. "Harry, you scared me." She took a few deep breaths. "I was just reading something I thought you should know about. Apparently, there several treatments you might be able to undergo if you are having trouble with your -"

Hari was not interested in her discovery. "You said something to McGonagall." His voice raised a touch, and Hermione blushed.

"Harry, you were cheating. I don't know what you expected me to do." Hari took several deep breaths while he tried to get his anger under control. "You can't expect me to look the other way when you break the rules."

Hari managed to school his expression. He spoke in a soft voice. "Hermione, where I'm from, we have a saying. Those who break the rules are trash."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Harry, that's being a little harsh on yourself. I don't -"

"But those who betray their friends, they are worse than trash."

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth dropped, but no words came out.

Hari pushed himself away from the table. "We're done." He heard Hermione call out for him as he stomped out of the library, but he marched on in spite of her cries. He made his way down the stairs and out of the castle.

* * *

Hermione felt like the floor had dropped out from below her feet. Harry had stormed out of the library in a fury, but she had clearly heard his last words to her. They wounded her in a way she wasn't familiar. She was used to being ignored, she was used to being bullied, but this was a completely new type of hurt.

Before Hogwarts, she had never had any close friends her age. It was always the adults, or at best, older students that would form bonds with her. Harry Potter had been the first person to reach out and befriend her. Better yet, he never seemed to get exasperated by her enthusiasm about classes. Having him tell her that she was worse than trash, that he was done with her, and that she had lost her best friend, wounded her deeply.

When she regained her senses, she gathered the books and started to wander the halls. She was on her way to the dormitory, when a hand rested on her shoulder. She whirled around to see Ron looking at her with a worried expression. "Oi! Hermione, are you alright? I didn't see you at dinner."

Ron's words broke the dam that held back her tears. He was Harry's friend, and while he had only tolerated her presence, the thought of losing another friend today was too much. "Oh, Ron. Harry h-hates me."

Ron awkwardly pat her on the back. "Err, there there. I'm sure Harry doesn't hate you." He led her to the common room, offering her platitudes on the way. She left him at the foot of the stairs to her room, her eyes finally dry. It was still early, but she changed for bed anyway, eager to put to close what was the worst day of her life.

Hermione had never really thought through what it meant to finally have friends. Friends certainly were an amazing thing to have, but they were an awful thing to lose.

* * *

I'm back from GenCon with yet another chapter. This chapter took a bit longer than I wanted, but in the end, it's now out there. For everyone who has been craving some more of that promised action, fear not! Hari has a lot of excess anger to work out, and next chapter should include at least one solid fight scene.

Thanks as always to Mon Espirit Libre for proof-reading my work. Her diligence is well appreciated and I urge you all to check out her works.

I'd also like to thank James the Fox, from the Viridian Dreams forums, for the amazing work he did on the cover image of this story. Be sure to check out a link to his Deviant Art account linked in my profile.

Finally, thanks again to everyone who has provided any feedback to this story. It really does encourage me to keep working at this story, seeing all of your reviews, favorites, and follows. I always appreciate the chance to chat with readers and get peoples thoughts on my work.

If you don't have anything in mind to leave in a review, let me know what you thought of the Hermione/Harry falling out. Or tell me that I am completely barmy for introducing a pairing between two owls. Just please leave a review.


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